Everything Burns
by impalame
Summary: Kara Richards is, for the most part, a patient person. But there's just something about the idiot that makes her blood boil. It's a classic love/hate story. But mostly hate. Johnny/OC future romance. Finished for now.
1. Here We Go Again

**AN:** Hello readers! First, I'd like to dedicate this story to my sister, without whose nagging this story probably never would have gotten finished. :)

Secondly, this is a Johnny/OC story. Sort of. It's basically the prelude to the real romance, which doesn't occur until the second movie (this story takes place during the first). But there is still lots of comedy and action, so give it a chance! On that note, no flames please. Only constructive criticism.

Enjoy and remember to **Read and Review**!

**XXX**

**Everything Burns**

**Chapter One: Here We Go Again**

I stepped up to the grand statue and looked at it unbelievingly. Of course, I knew the man well enough to expect this; Victor Von Doom was never one for simplicity.

Beside me, Ben Grimm grunted as he looked up at the statue. Ben was like another brother to me, I couldn't remember the exact time I had met him; it had been far too many years ago. He always looked out for me and protected me, something my actual brother, Reed Richards hadn't found time to do. Reed was always busy in his lab; working on some knew breakthrough or theory. I didn't dislike him for it, his work was what got him so far, but sometimes I felt like I barely knew him. At least he remembered to bring me along this time.

"Well, I can't say I'm surprised," I muttered as I looked up towards Victor's too perfect face.

Reed, who stood to my right, said, "High open space, exposed structural elements. Obviously aimed at first time-visitors to create feelings of… smallness, inadequacy."

Ben looked over at Reed. "Good thing it ain't workin'! Reed, what're we doing here? This guy's fast-food, strip-mall science…," he said.

"I agree with Ben, Reed," I said. "You know how Victor is… if it doesn't benefit him he won't agree to it."

"This wasn't our first stop, in case you forgot NASA," Reed told us. "And Victor's not _that_ bad. He's just a little…"

"Conceited?"

Reed looked at me disapprovingly. "Larger than life," he said.

I sighed. It was so like my brother to judge someone based on their accomplishments. Victor was a billion dollar scientist. Apparently that was good enough for Reed. I wasn't about to accept Victor so easily.

I looped my arm through Ben's and said, "Let's get this over with, shall we?"

The three of us walked past the giant statues and through the front doors into the atrium of Von Doom Industries. It was bustling with people, but I knew exactly where I was going, having been in the building numerous times. I led Ben towards the front desk as Reed added, "He's financed some of the biggest breakthroughs of this century."

"Really?" I asked sarcastically.

"You'd never know it!" Ben added in the same tone.

Reed was quiet the rest of the way to the desk, but I gladly let him address the less-than-cheerful receptionist.

"Reed Richards, Kara Richards and Ben Grimm to see…"

The woman cut him off and handed each of us a pass card. "Executive elevator. Top floor," she told us dully, before turning back to her desk.

Reed looked at Ben and I questioningly and I just shrugged. I'd expected as much. Ben, however, asked, "What's the price for a smile around here?"

"I'm not sure," I muttered so only he could hear. "Got a couple billion dollars?"

Ben chuckled as we followed Reed to an elevator and stepped inside. I watched as Reed pressed the button for the top floor, his hand shaking slightly. I also noticed that his face held a nervous look.

"Nervous?" I asked him, already knowing the answer.

"A little," he admitted, clutching a small black box tighter to him.

I put a hand on his arm. "Relax, Reed. You've done this a million times before. If you can stand up in front of NASA and do this, I'm certain Victor will be no problem."

Reed smiled weakly and turned his attention back to the elevator doors.

I sighed. That's what I got for trying to help. A nod and then silence. I should be used to it; Reed was never very skilled when it came to human interaction. But sometimes I still wished it had been different for us. I wanted a brother, not a lab partner. But that's all Reed could be.

The conference room was dark; the shadow engulfed most of the spacious room except for the place Reed and I stood. I was not there for just moral support either; I was operating the hologram machine, which I had helped design with Reed. One of our science projects. Ben stood alone in a corner of the room, and even from my place I could hear him yawn.

I started up the hologram and within seconds, stars, planets and constellations filled the room.

"My research suggests," Reed began, "that exposure to a high-energy cosmic storm borne on solar winds might have triggered the evolution of early planetary life."

On cue, I changed the hologram so that a giant red cloud (the storm) enveloped the stars and planets. As the cloud washed over their hologram of Earth, I quickly glanced down the table at Von Doom, who was hidden silently in the shadows.

Reed continued. "In six weeks another cloud with the same elemental profile will pass Earth's orbit. A study in space could advance our knowledge about the structure of the human genome, and help cure countless diseases, extend human life…"

Victor cut him off, clearing his throat.

Reed, however, was not done his presentation and said, "Give kids the chance to be stronger, healthier, less prone to…"

"Turn it off. Please."

"But I haven't fully explained my…"

"Yes, you have," Victor interrupted again. "Imagination. Creativity. Passion. Those were always your trademarks."

Suddenly, lights flickered on in the room and I could finally see Victor Von Doom. Sure, I could see the likeness to the majestic statue outside, but his real face lacked the consideration and somewhat understanding that the statue portrayed. Instead, his face was darker, commanding.

Victor dropped a magazine onto the table. I could see the cover from where I stood and I glared. There was a picture of Reed on the front over the words: _Richards Bankrupt, Grant Cutbacks_.

"But dreams don't pay the bills do they?" Victor mocked as a condescending smile grew on his face. "Same old Reed; the hopeless optimist. Still reaching for the stars, with the world on your back."

Reed did the opposite of what I would have. Instead of making a sarcastic comment or blowing up in Victor's face, he simply ignored the jabs and said, "You remember in school we talked about working together. That's what I was about to explain…"

He nodded in my direction and I changed the hologram again, this time a shuttle bearing the Von Doom insignia appeared.

Victor smiled. "So it's not my money you want. It's my toys… Tell me, if NASA doesn't trust you, why should I?"

I stared at him. They had visited NASA just the day before. How could Victor already know that they had been rejected?

Ben must have thought the same thing because he stood up more alertly too, and then Victor's eyes were on him.

"That's my job," Victor said, answering their unvoiced questions. "To stay a step ahead. To know what other men don't."

Ben walked over to Reed and turned his back to Victor. I heard him whisper, "I can't take this."

"Ben, this is business. Just work," Reed replied.

"He's right Ben."

I looked toward the door and smiled at the sight of Sue Storm. Sue was still as beautiful as she was the last time I saw her, at her own birthday party a few months before. Her blonde hair was tied back in a tight knot and her brown eyes were framed behind smart, black-rimmed glasses.

"It's just business," Sue finished.

"I think you all know my Director of Genetic Research, Susan Storm," Victor introduced, though no introduction was needed.

"Heya Susie," Ben greeted warmly, the same way he would to me.

I was too excited at seeing my close friend again to notice the short exchange between Ben and Reed. I watched as Sue walked towards us and gave Ben a warm hug. Only then did I look at Reed, who looked as though he had made the biggest discovery of mankind.

"Kara, it's so good to see you again!" Sue said as she stepped over to hug me.

I laughed. "I know! Nearly half a year is too long!"

Sue smiled as she pulled back from me and turned to Reed. I mentally groaned as they stiffly shook hands.

"You're… you've… I mean… how've you been…?" Reed stuttered.

"Never better," Sue replied coolly.

I watched as they stared at each other for a few moments, and then Victor put a hand on Sue's shoulder.

"This isn't going to be a problem, is it?" he asked, his tone betraying his fake concern.

"Not at all."

"Ancient history."

Victor smiled, and I frowned. "Good. Then you're just in time to hear the great Reed Richards ask me for help." He turned to Reed and said, "You know, you made a lot of folks at MIT feel like a junior high science fair. So you'll excuse me if I savour the moment."

Again, Reed ignored the insult. "You back this mission, and I'll sign over a fair percentage of any applications or…"

"The number's seventy-five," Victor demanded. "And it's applications and patents."

"What about his first born?" Ben muttered.

Reed looked at him and whispered, "Ben, the money's not important. We could save lives."

Victor continued. "Twenty-five percent of a billion is enough to keep the lights on, isn't it? Maybe even pay off your forth mortgage on the Baxter Building."

I looked at him incredulously, wondering how he knew so much about us.

"Deal?"

Reed looked at Ben, who shook his head no, and then to me. I was conflicted. I didn't want to work under Victor, that was the reason why I had turned down many job offers, but I also wanted Reed to get this. His reputation needed this.

When I didn't give any indication, Reed turned back to Victor and gave a short nod.

Victor grinned and held out his hand to Reed. "Well then, to our future. Together," he said.

When I left with Reed and Ben, Ben was still skeptical about Victor. I couldn't blame him; I was somewhat against the idea as well. I stepped into the elevator and listened as Ben and Reed continued to talk.

"He knew about NASA," Ben said. "What if he made the call to shut us down?"

"Ben, think about all the people we can help if this works…," Reed replied.

Ben sighed. "Maybe you should think about yourself for once. You always let this guy push you around…"

"We got what we wanted. That's enough," Reed said.

"I know, I know. I'm just worried about what he wants… speaking of which…"

I smiled as Sue joined us in the elevator, but fell back with Ben as Sue turned to Reed.

"Reed, you should know those solar winds have been picking up speed," she told him professionally.

Reed nodded and replied, "Oh, I factored them into my coordinates."

"Right…," Sue said. "Of course you did…in theory. It's a little different once you're out there."

Reed turned to her. "I can assure you that…"

"So when do we leave?" I asked Sue in an attempt to save the conversation.

"I'll be scheduling the launch," Sue told me. "So call me in the morning to talk about resources and crew."

Sue gave me a brief smile, which disappeared as she turned to Reed. Sue held out a business card, but Reed didn't take it.

"I think I remember the number," he said.

"It's been changed," Sue said simply.

I saw Ben grimace and Reed look downcast, so I took the card from Sue and tucked it away in my pocket. The elevator doors opened and Reed and Sue walked out, followed by Ben and myself.

"As far as crew, I was hoping Ben could pilot the mission," Reed said.

"Well," Sue began looking at Ben sympathetically, "We already have a pilot on our payroll, but he's welcome to ride shotgun. You remember my brother Johnny…"

I stopped dead in my tracks, causing Ben to bump into me. Johnny? Johnny Storm? Who in their right mind would let _Johnny Storm_ pilot the mission? Obviously someone insane.

Sue looked at me understandingly. "I thought you might do that," she said, referring to my stone-like stance. Sue stepped back to talk to me more privately as Reed tried to help Ben control his rage.

"I've already talked to Johnny about it," Sue said. "He knows you're coming, but I'll keep him in line. I promise."

I just nodded. I was _not_ going to enjoy this trip.


	2. MrBlonde Ambition

**AN:** I forgot to put a disclaimer in the last chapter…

_**I DO NOT OWN FANTASTIC FOUR OR ANYTHING THAT IS ASSOCIATED WITH IT. IT BELONGS TO MARVEL. AND AS MUCH AS I WISH I COULD CLAIM CHRIS EVANS AS MY OWN *SIGH*, HE DOESN'T BELONG TO ME EITHER. **_

As always, enjoy and don't forget to **Read and Review**!

**XXX**

**Everything Burns**

**Chapter Two: Mr. Blonde Ambition**

A few weeks passed and I found myself being led to my room on the shuttle by Sue, who had taken on a professional-façade again. We had met for lunch the day after the conference, planning on discussing the trip, but we ended up chatting about our personal lives. It was as though five months hadn't passed without a word, and we were best friends again. I loved talking to Sue again; I didn't have many female friends who shared my same intellect. It was good to have a real conversation again.

"Here you are," Sue said as she swiped the keycard into the lock and the doors slid open. I entered the room, finding it very sterile and empty. There was a bed and nightstand, along with a dresser and mirror, but it didn't feel like home. Not without useless clutter.

"My room is just across the hall, but I won't be in there much," Sue said.

I nodded, lifting my suitcase onto the bed and looking around.

"I know it's not what you're used to," Sue said. "But it's the best we have."

"It's fine, Sue. Really," I said.

Sue nodded. "Well, I have to go. Make yourself comfortable and then head down to the Command Center. They'll tell you where to go."

I thanked her and Sue left the room, leaving me alone. I didn't spend much time 'getting comfortable'; I just packed away my things and then left the room behind.

It took a while to reach the Command Center, but when I did find it, I was impressed. All the latest in advanced technology was in that room, and all of it was at my fingertips.

Victor Von Doom was at the Command Post already, I doubted he would ever leave that spot.

I slowly walked over to Victor and stood in front of him.

"Miss Richards, I want you with Mr. Storm and Mr. Grimm during the mission. Assist them in any way you can," Victor told me.

I frowned. "Victor, I can work in research with Reed. I'm fully capable of…"

"I have given you your duty already, Miss Richards," Victor said. "Now, you should find Susan. She'll have your flight suit."

I glared at him and walked away.

When I found Sue, I chose not to say anything about the incident in the Command Center. Instead I was given a blue, skin-tight uniform. I changed quickly and turned to Sue, who was loading a stack of the suits into her arms.

"Where are Reed and Ben?" I asked while grabbing a few of the uniforms from Sue and helping her carry them out.

"In the locker room most likely," Sue answered. "That's where we're bringing these."

They walked in silence until Sue was stopped by a worker, who told her that Victor was looking for her.

Sue sighed before she turned back to me. "You go on ahead. I'll meet you down there," she said.

I nodded and continued walking towards the locker room, following the directions posted on the walls. It wasn't difficult to find, the door was labeled _Locker Room_. I used my hip to push open the door and walked inside, greeted instantly by Reed and Ben.

"Where should I put these?" I asked, raising the uniforms slightly in my arms.

Reed shrugged. "I'm not sure. Just…umm…put them…"

"Thanks Reed," I said as I placed the stack onto a nearby table, figuring I could wait until Sue showed up.

I had just turned back around when a voice, one I had hoped to forget, filled the room.

"Captain on the bridge!"

Ben jumped from what he was doing and stood rigid, ready for command, but I just rolled my eyes and moved into a corner of the room, hoping he wouldn't see me.

Johnny Storm pointed his digital camera at Ben and took a picture, grinning as he did so. While Ben realized who it was, Johnny stepped into the locker room and opened his mouth again.

"Digital camera: $245. Memory stick: $59. The look on your hard-ass former CO's face when he finds out he's your junior officer: priceless," Johnny said, beaming at Ben.

I didn't react when Ben reached out towards Johnny's neck; I was almost hoping Ben would strangle him for me. But this time Ben managed to keep calm, and re-adjusted the zipper on Johnny's uniform.

"I can handle the ship," Ben said. "I can even handle Mr. Blonde Ambition. But I don't know if I should be flying or doing Swan Lake in these suits. Who the hell came up with them?"

"Victor did," Sue said as she entered the room. "The synthetics act as a second skin, adapting to your own individual needs."

"In other words," Johnny said, "it keeps the hot stuff hot, and the cool stuff cool."

"Wow…"

I looked over at Reed, who was looking at Sue with wide eyes. For a moment, one tiny, fleeting moment, I thought he was actually checking Sue out. But then…

"Material made from self-regulating unstable molecules. I've been working on a formula for this," he said, grabbing an extra suit and examining it.

Sue, who also seemed disappointed, said, "Great minds think alike."

I rolled my eyes with a sigh just as Sue looked at me. "Oh, Kara, I need you to help me with testing the controls."

Suddenly, and unfortunately, all eyes were on me, including dear Mr. Storm's.

"Kara?" he said, his tone teasing. "When did you get…?"

"Johnny," Sue warned.

"No, it's fine, Sue," I said, stepping further into the room. I had expected this of course, the joking, and so I was prepared for it. "I didn't really expect him to have changed much... It's his own fault he's been too pig-headed to notice."

Johnny grinned. "Nice to see you too, Richards."

"You wish, Storm."

XXX

I followed the others as we made our way to the Command Center. We were scheduled for take-off in a few hours and had to go over some important, last-minute details. Although the word _important_ hadn't reached some people's brains.

"If you behave, maybe next time Daddy'll let you drive," Johnny said mockingly to Ben.

Ben, who was struggling to keep calm, said, "Keep talking, and there won't be a _next time_."

I rolled my eyes and continued following silently. The last thing I needed was a murder on my hands, which would come quickly after Johnny made me crack. If I just stayed calm, nothing would happen.

"I have to say, I like the look."

I glared at Johnny as he walked backwards while facing me, shamelessly checking me out.

Taking a calming breath, I replied, "Sorry, can't say the same here. You look a little out of shape, Storm."

These words must have hit Johnny hard because I didn't hear a word out of him for a while after that.

"We can monitor the cloud's approach and observe the tests from here," Sue said as they entered the Command Center.

Having already seen it, I turned towards Ben. I knew I had been told to help both him and _Mr. Storm_, but there was no way I was taking orders from Johnny. Not until Hell froze over.

"Is it safe?" Ben asked.

"The shields on the station should protect us," Reed said, still looking around in amazement.

"_Should_?" Ben asked, bringing up a very valid question in my opinion.

"What's the matter, Ben?" Victor began. "Getting paranoid in your old age?"

Clearly feeling the tension, Reed said, "Let's start loading those samples. Get your suit ready, Ben."

Ben nodded and moved to do just that, when Victor spoke again. "So I see you're still doing all the heavy lifting?"

I watched as Victor then turned to Reed. "Maybe you should have stayed back in the lab. Field work never suited you."

"He does the talking. I do the walking. Got it?" Ben said, nearly snapping at Victor.

Von Doom just sneered. "So take a walk, Ben." Then he added, "Actually, if you'll all excuse me, I'd like to borrow Susan for a moment."

Quickly, I went to Ben and put a hand on his shoulder, leading him away from Victor and a possibly explosive situation. Ben was reluctant at first, but he complied and turned to follow me out of the Command Center. I cast a glance back at Sue, who looked confused, before leaving.

I did a last minute check on the plant samples while Ben was suiting up, getting help from Johnny. After I was finished with my checks, I walked over to them, receiving an annoying wink from Johnny before he spoke to Ben.

"Please tell me your guy's not trying to rekindle things with my sister… again," he said.

"Course not!" Ben replied. "Strictly business."

Johnny sighed. "Yeah, well, his eyes say differently, don't they?"

"Hey," Ben said as he reached out and grabbed Johnny's wrist, "two hearts got busted last time. Maybe she's not over it either."

"Wow, Dr. Phil, that's deep," he commented. "Let's think about that…"

Johnny glanced at me before turning away. "You've got Victor," he began, "more money than God and stud of the year. And then you've got Reed, the world's dumbest smart guy, worth less than a postage stamp. Hmm, that's a real toss-up."

"Watch it," I warned.

Johnny raised his hands in surrender and handed Ben a set of plant samples. I finished helping Ben with his helmet and when he was ready, he stepped into an air-tight chamber and closed the door. I stood beside Johnny as the outer door opened and Ben floated gracefully into space.

"Now what?" I asked, for a moment not realizing who I was talking to.

"Now comes the fun part," Johnny said.

I watched with a raised eyebrow as Johnny launched himself into a chair, placing his feet up on a nearby table. He grinned at me and motioned for me to take the chair across from him. Seeing no other choice, I walked over and sat down, avoiding his gaze.

A couple minutes passed in tense silence and then Johnny started 'clicking' his tongue irritatingly. I tried to ignore it, I really did try, but it was too much for me to handle.

"Would you cut that out!" I cried after he made a particularly loud 'click'.

Johnny looked at me; I imagined he was pleased with himself. "Do you have a problem with me, Richards?"

I glared at him. "Do I have a problem with you? _Do I have a problem with you_? Yes, I have a huge problem with you!"

"Which is…?"

"Not only are you an exceedingly egotistical air-head, but I am also forced to work _under_ you! Working with you was bad enough, but no! I had to be put under you! And when I could be doing my actual job and helping Reed, I'm stuck being… being _babysat_!"

Johnny looked back at me, his face impassive, as I fumed.

"Better?" he asked.

I glared and was about to retort when Reed suddenly burst through the door, looking anxious and worried as he ran over to the window where Ben could be seen at work.

"Ben, you need to get inside, now!" Reed called out to him using the radio.

"What's going on?" I asked as I got up with Johnny and went over to the window. What I saw made my heart drop.

"I ain't done arranging your flowers, egghead," Ben joked, turning around to look at them.

"Ben, turn around."

I watched Ben slowly turn around and come face-to-face with a giant, red cloud. The storm was already there.

I watched as the storm entered the outer part of the station, sending tremors through the floors.

"Guys, I'm not gunna make it," Ben said as he judged the distance between himself and the door.

"Ben, you got to jump! It's the only way!" Johnny yelled.

Ben jumped, slowly drifting towards the doors, but the storm was right behind him. I shouted for him. I knew that even if Ben did make it, they were still in danger. The station's shields didn't extend to the air-lock.

"C'mon Ben!" I cried through my radio.

"Okay, Johnny, get ready to close the portal," Reed said.

I braced myself as the storm grew closer, but that didn't help when the storm hit.

At first a force, like a brick wall, pushed against me, causing me to cry out. I couldn't see or hear the others around me and the last thing I felt was my body turning cold, like icy water.


	3. Fundementally Altered DNA

**AN:** Again… I don't own anything…

**XXX**

**The Fantastic Five**

**Chapter Three: Fundamentally Altered DNA**

A blinding white light was the first thing I saw when I woke up, followed by the steady beat of a machine taking my pulse. A groan escaped my lips as I pushed myself into a sitting position, glancing around the room. The bareness and sterile-like organization led me to think that I was back at the space station.

My head pounded as I tried to recall what had happened. I could remember yelling at Johnny, then the storm hitting, and then…Ben! I looked around frantically for any sign of him or the others, but there was no one there.

However, a strange sight caught my eyes; flowers on my bedside table. No one ever got me flowers.

Smiling slightly, I reached over and picked up the attached card and opened it. At first I was elated, but that joy quickly disappeared at the little emotion in the note.

_Feel better. _

_Reed. _

I tossed the card onto the table, but it slid off the top and onto the floor. Not that I cared. It clearly wasn't that important anyway. On the bright side, at least I knew Reed was okay.

A few minutes passed when an elderly nurse came in, holding a stack of clean blankets. The woman did not notice me at first, she simply continued humming to herself.

"Excuse me?" I said.

The nurse jumped and looked at me. "Oh, you're awake!"

"Where is everyone else? Are they okay?" I asked rather anxiously.

The nurse smiled at me. "Everyone is fine. You're all very lucky."

I nodded. Everyone was alright. Next question. "How long have I been asleep?" I asked.

"Only a few days," the nurse said. "We expected you to be out longer. The others woke up rather quickly too. Mr. Storm's been wreaking havoc since he got out of bed two days ago. Miss Storm is still in bed, she woke up just this morning."

"What about Ben?"

"I'm sure he'll come around shortly," the nurse said.

I was let out a few hours later after some tests had been run. The doctor had told me that there had been no harm done from radiation or any other reaction that they could see.

It felt good to stretch my legs as I wandered the halls of the space station, not really sure of where I was going. I was still trying to remember what happened on the shuttle, but every time I came close to an answer, I'd draw a blank. Maybe Reed would know.

I walked around the corner and collided into something hard and was knocked onto the floor. I let out a small gasp of pain and looked up into the half-amused, half-mocking eyes of Johnny Storm.

"Well, look! If it isn't Sleeping Beauty!" he said.

I glared at him. "Mind helping me up?"

To my surprise, he did, but I pushed the kind gesture away. "Why were you running anyway?" I asked.

Johnny grinned. "Let's just say when Ben learns to walk again, I'll be in hiding."

Before I could think of asking what he had done exactly, another thought popped into my head. "Ben's awake?!" I asked.

Johnny nodded and continued down the hall without another word.

The doctors wouldn't let me see Ben while they were doing tests, so I went to Sue's room, glad to see that she was just getting out. We gave each other a relieved hug and decided to spend the rest of the day outside, enjoying the sunshine. I had found out about the recreational swimming pool and ran to my room to grab my bathing suit.

"Do you know what happened? With the storm, I mean," I asked as I floated along the surface of the water. Sue was reading a magazine and sipping her iced-tea on the side; I hadn't been able to convince her to go swimming.

"I don't," Sue replied. "Reed can't figure it out either."

Drifting closer to the pool edge, I asked, "Sue, whatever happened with you and Reed?"

Sue looked up from her magazine. "You know Reed's not really a people person…"

"Yeah, I noticed."

"Well, that's just it. I was ready for the next step and he wasn't," Sue told me.

I figured it was something like that. I knew that Reed was crazy about Sue, but he also wasn't an expert when it came to relationships.

"I'm sorry, Sue," I apologized.

Sue shrugged. "It doesn't matter. I got over it a _long _time ago."

I looked at her thoughtfully. Ben _was_ right. Two hearts got broken. Was Sue really over it?

I had just finished my third lap of the pool when Ben came out of the building, healthy and alive.

"Ben!" I cried, swimming over to the side.

"Hey, Kara!" he greeted, smiling. "How're you feeling?"

"How am _I _feeling? Ben, you were the one hit the hardest," I pointed out.

Ben smiled. "And I'm still kicking! Did you really think a little cosmic storm was gunna stop me?"

I smiled back at him as he said, "I was just going for drinks. Would you ladies like to join me?"

"No thanks, Ben. I'm pretty content with where I am," I replied.

"And I have to meet Victor soon," Sue added.

Ben looked at her with puppy-dog eyes. "Oh, c'mon Susie! Just one drink!"

Sue looked at me, but I just grinned and shrugged. She sighed. "Alright, one drink!"

They said goodbye and I continued my laps of the pool. The water was cool against my skin, as I cut through the pool easily; it reminded me of the storm for some reason. I turned onto my back in a breast-stroke as I pondered that idea. Why did swimming remind me of the storm? No, no… why did _water_ remind me of the storm?

I thought on this for a few more minutes, but when I turned up nothing, I decided to retire from the pool. I swam over to the edge, wincing as my arm muscles grew sore. Perhaps I had over-done it for someone who had been in comatose mode for three days. I reached the stone edge and attempted to lift myself out, but it was a feeble attempt and I just fell back into the water. Why did I always over-do it?

I began to wish the pool would just _push_ me up and out onto the edge. But that was ridiculous.

That was why I screamed when I suddenly shot out of the water and landed on the stone edge, completely unharmed, and un-helped. I turned around and saw the water, as if it had a mind of its own, retreat back into the pool.

Shock enveloped me. I didn't understand what just happened. Robotically, I grabbed the warm towel waiting for me, dried myself off, and wrapped it around my waist before running back into the building.

The others weren't difficult to find, seeing as they were all together. I rounded the corner and saw Sue and Reed come through the doors at the end, with Johnny behind them. I wanted to ask why Johnny was wearing nothing but a pink snow-jacket, but I decided it wasn't as prudent as my problem was.

"Sue! Reed!" I cried as I walked hastily over to them.

They both looked at me in surprise and it was then that I realized I was still wearing my bikini. Johnny noticed too, and grinned.

"Never mind that! Look, something really weird just happened!"

Reed looked at me. "Like not humanly possible weird?"

"Yes, I would say what I just did is not humanly possible!"

"It has to be the cloud! It's fundamentally altered our DNA!" Sue said.

"Let's not jump to conclusions," Reed told her. "We need a massive amount of evidence before making that leap."

"Woah! Guys, look!"

I looked past Sue and Reed and saw Johnny looking absolutely astounded, but to be honest I was pretty shocked too. He snapped his fingers and a single flame, like from a lit candle, appeared out of thin air. My jaw dropped and Johnny snapped his fingers again, putting the flame out.

"Now picture that," he said, "but everywhere! It was everywhere!"

Reed, Sue, and I stared at him.

"What?!" Johnny asked, still totally amazed.

Sue looked over at Reed expectantly and he said, "The cloud has fundamentally altered our DNA."

Johnny let out a cry of joy, but I had other ideas.

"It what?" I asked.

"It changed the structure of our DNA, giving us superhuman abilities," Reed answered.

I glared at him. "Reed, I know what 'fundamentally altered DNA' means."

Ignoring my sour attitude, Reed began walking away. "We need to find Ben," he told them.

I sped after him and Sue, Johnny following close behind me.

"And you know what guys… I think I was flying!"

The entire way to Ben's room Johnny was snapping his fingers to make the flame appear and disappear, and I was about to go off on him, but Sue beat me to it.

"Cut it out, Johnny," she warned. "Johnny. Stop!"

"Alright!" he said.

"Alright!"

"Yes!"

"God!"

"God!"

"What's wrong with you?!"

"What?!"

The entire time this was going on, I was with Reed outside of Ben's door. It was locked but I thought I could see Ben through the window pane in the door. I _thought_ I could see him, whatever was in his bed looked much larger though.

Sue was trying to find the code for the door and Johnny was looking for someone who might have a key, so I was the first one to notice what Reed did.

With a wondering expression on his face, Reed bent into a crouching position and dropped his right hand to the floor. Carefully, he positioned his fingertips against the crack at the base of the door and pushed. I couldn't stop the astonished gasp that escaped my lips as Reed's hand molded against the door, sliding under with ease. Sue and Johnny both stopped what they were doing to watch as Reed's hand emerged from the other side of the door and rose up to the lock. He unlocked the door from the inside and pulled his hand back underneath the door.

We were all staring at him in shock when Johnny said, "That's gross."

Suddenly a loud bang sounded from inside Ben's room followed by a sound that resembled tumbling rocks.

"Oh my god," I said as we rushed inside.

Ben was no longer in the room. Instead we found the bed collapsed and broken, and a large gaping hole in the wall.

"Ben?" I called hesitantly, wondering what had happened to him.

Johnny suddenly ran forwards saying, "Look! Look!"

I stepped over debris from the wall and bed to the hole, Reed and Sue following behind. I came up behind Johnny and looked over his shoulder.

"What is that?"

Something, I wasn't sure exactly what _it_ was, was crashing through the trees outside the station. It shook the ground; I could still feel the slight vibrations pulsing through the ground. But where was Ben?

"What's going on?"

I spun around to see Victor Von Doom enter the room. He was dressed in a suit as usual and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. But then again, he was protected by the space station's shield when the storm hit.

He spoke again. "What happened in here?"

Sue walked over to him, concern on her face. "Victor, are you feeling alright?"

"I'm fine," Victor answered, waving his hand dismissingly. "Just a few scrapes, that's all…"

"Ben did this," Reed interrupted. "He's had some kind of… reaction to exposure from the cloud."

I started. That was Ben? How? Yes, we'd all had some kind of weird reaction to the storm, but none of us had changed too dramatically. Ben though…

"We all have different symptoms," Sue told Victor.

"Symptoms?"

I picked up on his tone of voice immediately. He was concerned, but not for any of us. He could care less about us… maybe Sue. No, he was more concerned about the consequences he could suffer if the public became aware of these 'symptoms'.

Sue appeared to be aware of this as well and she tried to amend the situation. "Victor… um, I should have…"

"Just find him."

Victor left and I was grateful. Sometimes, I really hated that man.

"Anybody got any ideas where the big guy's going?" Johnny asked, seeming unaware of his sister's unhappiness.

I sighed. Where would Ben go?

Something caught my eye. Amongst the rubble that littered the floor, there was something out of place. I bent over and picked it up, and my heart ripped as I saw what it was.

It was a picture of Ben and his fiancée.

"He's going home," I said.

And, now, so were we.


	4. A First Time for Everything

**AN:** Chris Evans is still not mine…

**XXX**

**The Fantastic Five**

**Chapter Four: A First Time for Everything**

Reed called Ben's fiancée, Debbie, the next morning. She said that Ben had come to see her, but he was... different.

Welcome to the effects of cosmic radiation.

All of our doctors gave us permission to leave, saying that we all had a clean bill of health, other than the strange anomalies in our systems. Though, I think Johnny's doctor forgot to mention the abnormality in his brain.

Speaking of the youngest Storm, the idiot was currently annoying the hell out of me. Von Doom had refused to let us use company cars, and so the four of us were crammed into a taxi cab with all our stuff. Sue was sitting in the front passenger seat, while I sat in the middle with Reed and Johnny on either side of me. How I ended up in this position was beyond me.

Johnny yawned and stretched his arm out, moving to place it around my shoulders.

I glared at him. "If you want to keep that arm, Storm, I strongly suggest you don't do that," I said.

"Sorry, Richards," he said, though I knew he wasn't sorry at all. "It's a little crammed back here."

"Well, if your ego didn't need to take up so much space-"

"So he was there last night," Reed interrupted. "Debbie's going to meet us on the other side of the bridge."

I huffed before looking forward to stare through the taxi windshield. Ahead of us was the Brooklyn Bridge, packed with traffic.

We reached the bridge when all the vehicles in front of us came to a halt. I looked over at Reed; he knew something was going on too.

The four of us piled out of the taxi, standing in the middle of the bridge. People around us were getting out of their cars too, wondering what was going on.

"Do you think it's Ben?" I asked.

Reed just shrugged in response to my question before nodding to the others. "C'mon," he said.

We weaved in and out of the traffic towards the cause of the blockade, but we were forced to stop again, this time by police. They'd set up a wall, preventing anyone from getting further. But we had to get to Ben, if it even was Ben.

"What do we do now?" Sue asked.

"We're not going to get past these guys," Reed told her, "but _you_ could."

Sue looked at him for a second before shutting her eyes. I watched closely; I hadn't been able to see what Sue could do.

As Sue focused, she slowly began to disappear, causing shocked exclamations to come from the people around us.

"Wow," I breathed as she became totally invisible.

Well, almost.

"Sue, your clothes," Reed pointed out. "Lose them."

Sue began to pull of her jacket, ridding herself of the only thing that would make her visible. She was taking off her blouse when Johnny looked away saying, "This is so weird..."

She was down to just her bra and panties when Sue began to turn visible again. Johnny turned away fully. As gasps went through the observing crowd, Sue realized what had happened and tried to cover herself up.

"Wow, you've been working out," Reed said, unable to look away.

"Shut up!" Sue said with a glare.

She grabbed her jacket and held it to her front as she continued to yell at Reed. Johnny still hadn't turned around and I rolled my eyes.

"Anymore great ideas?!" Sue cried. "Why don't you strip down and have a hundred people stare at you!"

As she yelled, she slowly started to vanish again and I said, "Sue! Look!"

She looked down at herself (or I assume so, I couldn't actually see her) and muttered, "Oh."

"I'm gunna need therapy," Johnny commented as Sue removed the last of her clothes.

I gathered up Sue's clothes and followed Reed and Johnny away from the crowd as Sue went a different way to get past the police officers. We were able to sneak past everyone who was too occupied by what they had just seen to notice us.

I went behind an overturned truck and waited for Sue. I didn't know she was there until the clothes started to be ripped from my arms.

"That is, by far, the most embarrassing thing I've ever..." Sue muttered angrily.

"Well," I said, "it could have been worse."

I was pretty sure she was glaring at me, so I shut up.

Fully clothed, Sue became visible again and yelled over to Reed; "I still can't believe you made me do that!"

"We got through, didn't we?" he said, coming around to us with Johnny. Then he said to all of us, "Just find Ben."

I began to run through the cars, some of which were heavily damaged and on fire. Up ahead, I could make out something huge, making its way down the bridge away from us. Sue climbed onto the roof of a car and began calling for Ben.

Suddenly, a small voice caught my ears and I looked over. A small girl was looking around frantically, calling for her mother. My instincts kicked in and I ran over to her, running over debris scattered in my path.

I reached her and grabbed her arm. "It's okay, I got you," I told her.

She looked up at me with tears in her eyes. "Where's my mom?"

Before I could say anything, someone shouted my name and something collided with my back. A loud explosion erupted and I wrapped my arms around the girl just as someone wrapped their arms around me. I could hear a sizzling sound and there was steam rising everywhere around me. The sounds of more explosions reached my ears along with the scraping of metal in the distance.

I looked around to see the fire around me recede until it died completely. Then I looked down at my waist, where a pair of strong arms were wrapped. All around that area, steam was sizzling.

"Are you okay?" a familiar voice asked.

I turned my head to see Johnny looking down at me, concern filling his expression. I wished I had a camera; this wasn't a look I was bound to see very often.

"I'm fine," I told him.

He let go slowly, as if expecting me to crash to the ground, and the steam disappeared as he stepped back. Odd.

I looked at the girl who, though still crying, had calmed down a little.

Johnny tapped my shoulder (the spot hissed a bit) and pointed further down the bridge. A fire truck was hanging out over the edge, teetering ever so slightly.

"Stay here," I told the girl before running off, Johnny following close behind.

As we approached, I saw a firefighter dangling from the back of the truck out over the water and another making his way over to help. The truck leaned backwards a little more. The firefighter who had gone to help held on for his life as the ladder slid out even further and then he was hanging over the water. Ben (I was positive it was Ben now) grabbed the front of the truck in an attempt to pull it back onto the bridge. Though he was having some difficulty, he was strong enough to keep it steady.

Which was enough for me.

"Hang on, Ben!" I shouted, racing for the edge of the bridge.

I heard both Reed and Johnny yell my name, but in one swift jump I launched myself over the side and plummeted to the water below.

The icy water didn't chill me as it should have; instead it felt warm against my skin. It swirled around me and a tingling sensation ran through me. Like I had done in the pool at the Von Doom Space Station, I focused on where I wanted to go: up.

Gathering up behind me, the water pushed me upwards and I shot through the air. The waves manipulated around me and I rose higher and higher. I rose up until I reached the fire truck and forced the water to push against the back of the truck, pushing it up. With difficulty and with Ben's pulling, the truck moved onto the bridge and inch further.

A scream from above me drew my attention to the firefighters. One man's hands were slipping and before I could reach out to him, he fell.

"No!" I yelled.

I almost let go of the truck to save him, but someone beat me to it. Reed, his body stretched to an impossible length, reached out and grabbed the man.

I continued to push against the fire truck and a few moments later, it was back on the bridge.

A sigh of exhaustion escaped me and a pounding filled my head. Suddenly my vision started to blur. I slowly felt the water begin to fall, droplet by droplet, back into the river. I was falling back with it too, until someone grabbed my arm.

I was pulled up, with some difficulty, onto the fire truck's ladder. Laying flat on my back, I looked up into the face of the fire fighter who'd been hanging on for dear life just a few moments ago.

"Thank you," I said.

He laughed. "No... Thank you," he replied with a smile.

He helped me up and held me against his side as we walked along the ladder towards the front of the truck. Others grabbed hold of me along the way, helping me steady myself on my feet. It felt as though all the energy in my body was gone, and the headache was slowly getting worse.

"Kara!"

I looked up to see Reed running towards me, Sue and Johnny following behind.

As soon as he reached me, Reed gathered me up in a hug. Since he was the only thing holding me up, I didn't have any choice but to hug him back, even if this was completely unusual for us.

"Have you completely lost your mind?!" he chastised. "What were you thinking, Kara, jumping over the bridge like that?! You could have died!"

"Can we talk about this later, Reed?" I asked tiredly, knowing full well that we wouldn't talk about it later. Sue came to my other side to help hold me up, though she too looked a little beat. Johnny just shook his head.

Finally I asked, "Where's Ben?"

"Freeze! Get down on the ground!"

I looked over to see a circle of police officers, guns drawn, surrounding Ben.

"Get down on the ground, now!"

I wanted to yell at them for trying to arrest him, the idiots. But before anything could escape me, the crowd of people who had watched everything began to cheer. They were clapping and screaming and cheering for Ben; and for us too, I suppose. The firefighters began to cheer as well, and soon the police dropped their weapons to do the same.

Cameras were popping up out of nowhere and I was beginning to wish I could get out of there; not without Ben though. I wasn't going anywhere until I was sure he was okay.

I watched as a woman made her way to the front of the crowd and Ben looked at her. It was Debbie. Ben stepped forward, but she shook her head. And then I watched as Debbie pulled the engagement ring from her finger. She put it on the ground and, with just one last look at Ben, walked away.

My heart broke for Ben. I knew how much he loved Debbie; he was so excited to make her his wife. I couldn't wrap my mind around how she could leave him now, when he needed it most.

I knew that I wouldn't leave him now.

I broke away from the others and stumbled over to Ben, just as he reached down to pick up the ring. But his fingers, now too large, couldn't hold the tiny piece of jewellery. I placed a hand on his shoulder, half to comfort him and half to hold myself up, and picked up the ring. I placed it in his open palm.

He looked at me and I didn't have to say anything for him to know what I was thinking.

Reed came over to us then, looking at Ben sympathetically.

He said, "I swear to you, I will do everything in my power, until there is not a breath left in me... you're going to be Ben again."

Before anything else was said, we were approached by several police officers who lead us to tent. Inside there were a few small hospital benches, as well as a bunch of police equipment.

Reed helped me over to one of the benches to help me sit down, while an EMS guy checked me out. To my surprise, Reed stayed with me the whole time. He questioned the doctor on everything he did and acted extremely protective when I was given a shot to bring my energy back up. He was acting brotherly, something he hadn't done in a very long time.

Sue was forced to get checked out too, but she turned out to be fine. Johnny was his usual self, which meant he was acting like he was the coolest thing since sliced bread.

As I was sitting on the bench regaining my strength, I watched Ben who was sitting just a few feet away from me. The ring was still in his hand and he was looking down at it sadly.

It was a very serious moment, until the idiot opened his mouth.

"Where are your ears?" Johnny asked.

"Shut up," I told him with a glare.

He didn't seem to find a problem with his question and gave me a 'what?' look.

Looking at Ben now, it was obvious that the storm had affected him the most. He was the only one of us who was physically altered. The exterior part of his body was no longer skin; it was some kind of hard, orange rock. And, yes, he had no ears; at least visibly.

"Hey," a voice interrupted my thoughts.

I looked up to see the firefighter from before enter the tent. He had removed the jacket of his uniform and was wearing a grey t-shirt instead. I smiled at him as he entered. He was quite handsome, with strong facial features and short brown hair. And he had really nice brown eyes that glittered warmly.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, coming to a stop in front of me.

I shrugged. "To be honest... a little strange," I said.

He chuckled. "Yeah, I guess so. I'm Tom, by the way," he replied, holding out his hand for me to shake.

I took it to shake, but was surprised when he brought my hand to his lips for a light kiss. "Kara...," I said, almost forgetting to introduce myself.

"Thank you again, Kara," Tom said, releasing my hand. "You saved my life today."

"Oh," I said, "um, it was... nothing?"

Tom laughed. I decided he had a nice laugh; kind of throaty and rumbling.

I opened my mouth to politely ask how he was feeling (after all, he had been hanging fifty feet above a river just an hour ago), but was interrupted. Again.

"I'm gunna have to ask you to leave," Johnny said, walking up next to Tom. "This tent is reserved for awesomeness only."

I glared at him. "Storm, shut up," I seethed.

Johnny looked at me, as if just noticing I was there. "Oh, Kara! Didn't see you there! You'll have to leave too then..."

"If you don't shut up right now, I swear I'll kick you so hard..."

"Alright, alright," Johnny said, backing away with his hands raised in surrender.

I continued to glare until he was back at the other side of the tent and then I turned to Tom, my look infinitely kinder.

"I'm so sorry about that," I apologized, "he was dropped on his head as a child... repeatedly."

Tom smiled. "Don't worry about it," he told me. Then he looked at me nervously. "Uh, I know I'm really in no position to be asking any favours, seeing as you saved my life..."

"Technically, you saved mine too, so we're even," I told him with a smile.

He smiled back. "That's very true," he said. "So, do you think it might be the least bit possible to make the sacrifice of giving me your number?"

I grinned. "Well... I don't know... It would be a big sacrifice..."

"I know, I'm terrible for asking," Tom said with a grin of his own.

I sighed dramatically. "I suppose I could give you my number," I said.

When Tom left the tent, with my phone number added into his phone's address book, I was in a much better mood. It quickly disappeared however, when another man stepped into the tent.

"Sir," he began, addressing Reed, "there are some folks outside that want to talk to you."

Reed looked back at the man, shock written all over his face. "We are not going public with this," he told the officer. "We're scientists, not celebrities."

"It's too late, son," the officer told him.

Seeing the look Reed was giving him, he walked over to a television screen that was in the tent. I stood up and moved closer to see.

"Look," the officer said, turning the television on. We were met with images of ourselves and the destruction on the bridge, along with headlines like 'Crisis on the Bridge' and 'The Fantastic Five'.

"That's what they're calling you," the officer said, "the Fantastic Five!"

"Cool!" Johnny exclaimed before turning to exit the tent.

"Where are you going?" Sue asked.

Johnny pointed over his shoulder. "I'm gunna go talk to them," he said, as if it were the most obvious explanation in the world.

"No," Sue told him, "we should think this through."

Johnny nodded in agreement. "That's great!" he said before quickly adding, "Brainstorm."

Then he ran out of the tent.

I looked at Reed and Sue, who shared a quick look with each other before they bolted out after him. I gave Ben a look, and he rolled his eyes at Johnny's immaturity and we followed out after. The others were already being questioned by the sea of media when we arrived.

Reed stepped forward to address the paparazzi. "During our recent mission to the Von Doom Space Station we were exposed to as yet an unidentified radioactive energy...," was all he got out before the shouting continued.

"What happened on the bridge?"

"Can you really stretch?"

"Is it true you can fly?"

"Yeah, I'm working on it. It's actually really difficult," Johnny answered, causing me to send him a glare.

"No, actually," Sue interrupted, stepping forward, "we do not know much more than you do at this point. We will be going directly to our lab to diagnose our symptoms..."

"Symptoms? Is this some kind of disease?"

Johnny quickly shut that down. "No!" he said. "It's not a... disease. If having special powers is a disease, then yeah, we got it bad."

"Excuse me," one reporter said, pointing at Ben. "That... _thing_ doesn't look so fantastic."

Glaring at the man, I placed my hand on Ben's arm protectively.

"Ben Grimm is a genuine American hero," Reed said.

"What he means is," Johnny said, "that every team needs a mascot!"

The crowd laughed.

"Cut it out!" I hissed at him, but I was completely brushed aside.

"A new day is dawning!" Johnny told the crowd. "The day of the Fantastic Five!"

The reporters went absolutely nuts and I looked over at Reed, silently telling him to do something. He nodded and said, "Look, look! We went up to space to find a way to understand DNA; to cure disease and save lives. Well now it's _our_ DNA, _our_ disease, _our_ lives on the line. Thank you, no more questions."

As we walked away towards the police escort that was set up to take us home, I caught up to a still grinning Johnny.

"You just don't know when to leave things alone, do you?" I asked sharply.

Johnny sighed. "Oh c'mon, Richards. I was just having a little fun. You should try it sometime."

I pushed him aside, stopping us completely. "You really are an inconsiderate jerk," I said. "You really don't care about what Ben is going through at all?"

"Why should I? He's a big guy, he can handle himself."

I looked at him for a moment before shaking my head. "Well then that just proves my point, doesn't it?"

With that I walked away, leaving Johnny dumbfounded. He was probably still trying to process everything I had said.


	5. Fire Versus Water

**AN:** I don't own anything…

**XXX**

**The Fantastic Five**

**Chapter Five: Fire Versus Water**

Since Ben couldn't fit in the back of the police cruiser, he had to ride in an armoured truck instead. And not wanting him to be alone, I decided to take it with him.

"You didn't have to do this, Kara," he said, refusing to look me in the eyes.

"Ben, you're like a brother to me and I love you. Nothing's changed."

Ben let out a dark chuckle and I decided not to press the matter any further, and we spent the rest of the ride in silence.

Eventually, the armoured truck came to a stop and the doors were opened for us. I got out first and was met by a swarm of people cheering. They were lined up all the way to the front doors of the Baxter Building and even a few police officers had to hold people back.

"Wow," Ben said as he came out of the truck after me.

I walked towards the front doors, completely ignoring Johnny as I passed him, and caught up with Reed and Sue as they entered the building.

The greeter, Jimmy, approached us with a smile. "Is all that for you, Dr. Richards?" he asked, nodding to the crowd outside.

"I'm afraid so," Reed replied.

Johnny and Ben came in after us, Johnny looking extremely elated and Ben looking furious. Together we approached the elevators and were met by Willy, the mail courier.

"Welcome back to the Baxter, Dr. Richards," Willy greeted. "I've got the usual for you," he added, handing Reed a large stack of envelopes.

I groaned, knowing what they were. Bills that would barely (or wouldn't) be paid.

"Good to have you back, sir," Willy said.

As Reed turned into the elevator, looking at the pile in his hands, I smiled at Willy. "Anything there for me?" I asked.

He shook his head with a smile and replied, "Nothing today, Miss Richards."

"Okay, thanks Willy," I said and he walked away.

A voice suddenly whispered in my ear, "I think he has the hots for you."

I ignored the irritating voice.

The five of us got into the elevator, which groaned loudly, and I pressed the button for the top floor. The doors closed, but the elevator didn't seem to be moving. I pressed the button again. Nothing.

"Either we're moving really fast, or not at all," Johnny commented.

A buzz echoed through the elevator and we all looked up to a light that said, 'Exceed Maximum Weight'.

The elevator dinged and the doors slid open, revealing the ground floor again.

Sadly, Ben said, "I'll take the stairs," and got off the elevator.

"I'll go with you," I offered, but he just shook his head.

"Don't bother," he said and the doors slid closed again.

The elevator rose up immediately.

"How come Ben can't turn it on and off like we can?" Johnny asked.

"That's what we're here to find out," Reed told him.

Sue, suddenly looking concerned, said, "I mean, if it happened to him..."

"What?" Johnny interrupted. "We won't be able to turn it off either?"

Reed nodded.

Unexpectedly (or maybe it was expected, since it was Johnny), Johnny laughed. "Well that would save time," he joked.

Sue looked at him disapprovingly and said, "You don't really want to walk around on fire for the rest of your life, do you?"

"Is that a trick question?"

"Grow up," Sue said.

"C'mon! Am I the only guy that thinks this is cool?"

Normally, I would have interjected with a smartass comment, but I was set on ignoring Johnny. If he couldn't act like a grown up, then I wouldn't waste my time trying to talk to him like one.

When we reached the top floor, where Reed and I lived, Reed stepped out first.

"We should stay here until we can define the extent of our changes and figure out how to reverse them," he said while tossing the envelopes onto a table. I knew I would have to remind him about that later.

We walked into the main lab area which was filled with desks and other equipment Reed and I used or created.

"But I have to warn you," Reed said, "it's going to be a little crowded in some areas."

Sue and Johnny looked around the room as Reed took off his jacket and threw it onto a chair. I picked it up and hung it on the rack along with mine. Reed didn't even notice.

"So what do you think?" Reed asked them.

"I don't know, Reed," Johnny said, "I think you might be bringing your work home with you."

Reed laughed and then said, "C'mon, I'll show you guys where you'll be staying."

He'd better not put Johnny in the room across from mine...

XXX

"You put Johnny in the room across from mine?! What the hell, Reed?!" I argued.

"Kara, it's not a big deal. It's only temporary," Reed told me.

I scoffed and folded my arms. "Not a big deal?! Have you met the guy?!"

Johnny poked his head out of his door. "Hey, where are the towels?" he asked.

Reed looked at him blankly. "Uhh..."

"In the closet, third shelf down on the left," I answered stubbornly, not caring to look at him.

Johnny retreated into the room and I snapped at Reed again. "He couldn't even find the towels!"

"Kara, I wouldn't be able to find the towels with the way you organized it."

"I organized it so that a monkey could find the towels... blindfolded."

Reed sighed, clearly fed up with my temper. "Listen, I'm going to go check on Sue. Why don't you go to your room and cool down. I'll call you a little later to help run the tests."

With that he left and I had no choice but to go to my own room. I opened the door and couldn't help but smile a little bit.

Unlike the very organized way I kept the rest of the building, my room was complete chaos. I liked to call it an 'organized catastrophe', but Reed called it laziness. Like he was one to talk.

Books were scattered everywhere along with pieces of paper with random equations and theories scribbled on them. I must have had a million notebooks filled with work. But then there were the other signs of me in the room. There was a whole wall of CDs on one side and a very large closet on the other. I may be smart, but that didn't mean I was fashionably inept.

I picked up a random book off the floor and began to read, trying to calm myself down. The time I spent doing this was reasonably uninterrupted, except for the time Johnny came out of his room singing completely off key and then the strange one second power-outage.

The phone began to ring and I picked it up.

"Kara, could you come down to the lab? Sue and I are starting to run tests on Johnny now."

I hung up and went back to reading.

XXX

Twenty minutes later, I strolled into the lab and threw on my lab coat.

"What've I missed?" I asked.

Reed looked at me as though he knew I was purposely late, but he didn't say anything.

"Nothing," he told me, "he just went into the chamber. We're about to start now."

Johnny's voice came from the microphone system.

"Can we get this show on the road? I'm starting to get bored and..."

I turned off the microphone and the room was enveloped in silence.

Sue gaped at me. "Kara, you can't turn that off! What if he was hurt and needed to tell us?"

"Well, I wouldn't answer him anyways, so really it's just a waste of energy," I said.

Reed looked at me disapprovingly (again) and flicked the microphone back on.

"Okay, Johnny, you can start," he said.

I lazily watched the computer monitors as Johnny was completely engulfed in flame. The chamber down on the floor below us was emitting waves of heat.

In an astonished tone of voice, Reed said, "He's heating up from his core."

"And his vitals are completely normal," Sue added.

They watched him for a few more minutes and then Reed spoke into the microphone, "Alright Johnny, can you bring up the heat a little bit?"

The idiot happily obliged and I looked on as the computer thermometer went up. Within seconds, it was rapidly approaching 2000 degrees Kelvin.

"It's hotter than I anticipated," Reed said when the thermometer passed 2500 degrees Kelvin. "Okay, Johnny, back it down."

"I can go hotter!"

The thermometer started to skyrocket as Johnny increased the heat.

"Johnny, just back it down," Sue ordered.

Ignoring her, Johnny reached 4000 degrees Kelvin.

"Damn it, he's not listening!" I yelled before running out of the room towards the chamber.

"Kara, get out of there now! It's too hot!" Reed yelled.

Perhaps hypocritically, I ignored him to and went to the chamber. I noticed strangely that I was starting to sizzle like mad, just as I had earlier on the bridge when Johnny touched me. I placed my hands on the chamber, but pulled them back in shock. Handprints were burned into the titanium siding. It was too hot for me to even try to cool down.

"JOHNNY! STOP!" I screamed.

The flames went out when someone in the control room above hit the button for the fire extinguishers. I opened my eyes to see Johnny sitting on the floor of the fire-proof chamber, laughing and covered in foam. I just glared at him.

"You guys are cramping my style!" he yelled at Reed and Sue, who had come out of the control room.

"Johnny you were at 4000 Kelvin," Sue told him, "any hotter and you are approaching supernova."

"Sweet!"

"No, not sweet," she said, "That's the temperature of the sun."

Reed added, "Not only could you kill yourself, but you could set fire to earth's atmosphere and destroy all human life as we know it."

Johnny nodded. "Got it. Supernova... bad."

I groaned. "God, you are such an idiot," I said, laying back onto the floor. The brutal headache I'd gotten on the bridge before had returned and the world was spinning around me.

"Kara?" I heard Reed yell in alarm and within moments all three of them were standing over me. "Are you okay?"

Again, I groaned, feeling sick to my stomach. "Do I look okay to you, Reed? I just survived being a foot away from the sun, how do you think I feel?"

"How did you do that by the way?" Sue asked. "At that proximity you should be nothing more than a pile of ash. Reed and I were behind a wall of concrete and we still felt the burn."

"I don't know... maybe we cancel each other out? Fire against water? It didn't affect me the same as it would have any of you?" I answered, my tone showing that I didn't really care how.

There was a small pause and then Reed said, "We should run some tests to prove that theory."

"Reed, she's not well," Sue said, "we should let her rest for a bit."

"If we want to do the test with the same variables..."

Sue finally snapped. "Would you stop thinking about science and think about your sister?! Look at her Reed! She's exhausted! She needs food and sleep! You can run your stupid tests tomorrow when she's not half dead!"

She helped me stand up and we began walking towards the living space. Sue didn't turn to look back at Reed, but I knew he was watching us leave.

Before we were out of ear-shot, I heard Johnny say, "So... did I pass?"


	6. One Missed Call

**AN:** Still don't own anything... *sigh*

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed the past chapters! Your support has really motivated me to keep writing this story. So thanks again and I hope you enjoy this next one!

**XXX**

**The Fantastic Five**

**Chapter Six: One Missed Call**

I woke up late the next day, having slept through the night very peacefully. After Sue had forced me to eat some food, she'd helped me into bed and told me to let my body recharge itself. And I did just that; it was early afternoon when I stepped out into the kitchen.

Ben was sitting at the kitchen table, drinking from... a pitcher of water. He stood up as I entered.

"Kara, are you okay?" he asked, coming forward to give me a hug. He stopped before he did so, hesitating. He probably thought he would crush me.

I stepped towards him and wrapped my arms around his front; they didn't reach all the way around.

"I'm alright, Ben," I told him, stepping away again. "I just needed some rest."

Ben sat back down at the table and I grabbed some cereal from the cupboard.

"Where is everyone?" I asked.

Ben shrugged his massive shoulders. "Reed's in the lab running some more tests on the hot-head. Suzie hasn't talked to him since what happened yesterday," he told me.

I sighed. "They're relationship is so strained already and I just made it worse."

"It's not your fault, Care Bear," Ben told me. "You just need to give them time."

I cringed and looked at Ben seriously. "Don't call me that, Ben," I asked.

He let out a rumbling laugh. "You used to love that name!"

"Yeah, when I was eight."

Ben continued to laugh and I eventually joined in. We chatted while we ate breakfast until the phone began to ring. Reluctantly, I walked over to it and picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Oh, Kara, I didn't know you were awake," Reed said. "Are you... do you feel...?"

"I'll be there in a minute, Reed," I told him, hanging up.

I turned to Ben, who was looking at me sympathetically. He knew that Reed and I never had a really close relationship and I suspected he felt sorry for me.

"Science calls," I said before putting my dishes away and slowly making my way to the lab.

Reed was doing some physical tests on Johnny when I entered. The X-Ray machine was on and Reed was studying it intensely; Johnny looked bored again.

"What's going on here?" I asked.

Both looked up at the sound of my voice; Johnny adopted a cocky grin and Reed smiled uncertainly.

"Just doing some X-Rays," Reed told me. "It's strange... for Johnny and Sue, everything looks perfectly normal. But Ben's entire internal structure changed."

I looked at him curiously. "Changed to what?" I asked.

Reed looked at me and said, "Solid rock."

I thought about that. "Maybe it's all about exposure," I suggested, "after all, Ben was hit the hardest by the cloud. Maybe the radioactivity affected him the most because of it, and we just got the after math of the hit."

"I'm not sure," Reed said, "that's definitely a part of it, but I wonder if there's something else too. That storm was powerful. If it managed to change Ben's molecular make-up this way, there's a strong possibility that it changed ours too..."

Suddenly, Johnny sighed and said, "Okay, Dork and Dorker, am I finished here?"

"Not yet, Johnny," Reed said, "you need to stick around for the test with Kara. We need to test what happened yesterday."

"Great," Johnny said unenthused, slipping out of his seat.

I took his place and set up the X-Ray machine against my chest. "What else have you found out about Sue and Ben?" I asked.

Working on my X-Ray, Reed answered, "Sue is able to bend light around herself and other objects; it's not exactly invisibility, more like the illusion of it. And her powers seem to be attached to her emotions, whereas Johnny's, and I suspect yours, are triggered by mind processes. Ben's is all physical."

After a few moments of silence (other than Johnny humming to himself), Reed sat back and said, "Just like I thought. Your internal organs haven't changed at all, or at least not in this state."

"What do you mean, not in this state?" I asked.

"Well, before the chamber was melted," he said with a look at Johnny, "I was going to run tests for both when our powers are dormant and when they're engaged."

"To see if there's an on and off switch," I finished for him.

Reed nodded, but then sighed. "I thought it would help to create a cure for this, but Ben... he doesn't have an on and off switch."

"We'll find something Reed," I told him.

Another sigh escaped him and then he turned to Johnny. "Okay, I want to test this reaction between the two of you," he said. "Now, Johnny, keep the temperature under control. We don't need another accident like yesterday."

"Sure thing, Doc," Johnny said with a nod. "What do we have to do?"

Reed hesitated. "Well, I guess physical contact would be good enough for now," he said. "You should be able to get close enough without hurting each other as long as the temperature remains steady."

I reached out a hand and touched Johnny's bare arm. At the first sign of contact, the sizzling started and steam began to rise. Reed took some notes while I kept my hand on Johnny's arm.

After a while of watching Reed write, I turned to Johnny, who was looking at me. He smirked and began to flex the muscles under my hand. I rolled my eyes and let go of his arm; the steam evaporated and disappeared.

"Interesting," Reed commented as he observed. "I think your theory was right, Kara. I think because both of your elemental powers are each others' opposite, you cancel each other out, hence the reaction."

"But I'm still stronger," Johnny said arrogantly. "I knocked her out yesterday."

"That doesn't necessarily make you stronger," Reed said. "You were using your powers at a greater force than Kara was at the time. I think if she had matched that level, it wouldn't have been so overwhelming."

I thought about this for a moment before saying, "But Reed, my power is totally controlled by my mind. As far as I know, I can only manipulate water. I can't create it or change my entire molecular build. Johnny is physical, not mental."

Reed pondered this. "We need to run more tests on you before we can draw any conclusions," he told me. "If only we had the chamber..."

"We don't need it."

I looked over to see Sue and Ben enter the room, the former carrying a disk in her hand.

"What do you mean?" I asked, since Reed was suddenly mute.

Completely ignoring Reed, Sue walked over to a computer and inserted the disk. "We were looking at some footage from the bridge yesterday, particularly of you, Kara," she said.

An image popped up on the screen immediately. It looked like it was shot from an airborne helicopter and it showed me, floating fifty feet above the river with water surrounding me.

Sue hit play and everyone gathered around the screen to watch. In the video, the water around me shaped and moulded, twisted and turned around my body as well as pressing against the back of the fire truck.

"If you look closely," Sue said as she pointed at the screen, "you'll notice that the water isn't going around her; it's going _through_ her."

I looked even more carefully and noticed that she was right. Instead of the water bouncing away from my skin, it was absorbed.

"Now that's cool," Johnny said.

"More water wasn't coming out of the river to push on the fire truck," Sue said, looking at me, "you were reusing the same amount of water over and over again, like a filter."

"Which means," Reed began, acting as though he'd had an epiphany, "that an X-Ray wouldn't show anything; because there's nothing to _see_."

"I'm not following," I said, confused.

Reed stood up and ran around the lab searching for something while Sue explained. "Your body acts like a sponge," she told me. "It absorbs the water you come in contact with and stores it like a reservoir to use for later."

"And I'm positive," Reed continued as he stepped over, rolling another machine, "that if we checked your body's water mass, it would be extremely close to one hundred percent."

He hooked me up to the machine and started it. After a few minutes the results came back and Reed grinned when he read them.

"Ninety six percent water," he said as he handed the paper to Sue.

She looked it over while saying, "Which explains the reaction to Johnny's body heat. It's just like throwing water on an open flame..."

"It sizzles and steams up," I finished.

"So you were wrong about one thing," Reed told me. "Your powers are physical too, like Johnny's, just not as evident."

Excitedly, Reed looked between Johnny and me. "I want to try one more thing," he said. "Johnny, raise the temperature, but don't..."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it! No supernova!" he said.

"And Kara," Reed continued, "I want you to try to release the water from inside you. Try to fight off Johnny's flames."

Johnny stood in front of me and started the fire, his entire body _becoming_ flames. The others stepped away from the heat.

I tried to block everything out and focus on letting go of the water. I imagined it seeping out of my pores and becoming suspended in midair, twisting and bending around me. As I thought about this, my body seemed to act just as I had imagined it. Within a few moments, droplets of water hung in the air around me.

But Johnny was quickly evaporating everything. Any water that came close to him disappeared with a hiss.

I focused harder, trying to bring the water together in front of me like a wall. It did so, and it pushed against Johnny, reducing the flames.

"That's good!" Reed yelled. "Johnny, bring it up a little more! Kara, try to hold him off!"

Johnny did as he was directed and more water evaporated with a sizzle.

He laughed. "Is that all you got, Richards?" he yelled, clearly thinking he had won.

"I think you're getting too hot-headed, Storm!" I yelled back. "Why don't you let me help you cool down?"

And with one final push, I crushed him with the wall of water, completely dousing the flames.

"Excellent!" Reed exclaimed with a broad smile. "That was great!"

"Okay guys, we have a serious problem."

I looked in Johnny's direction and burst into laughter. He was... well... naked. Charred scraps of his clothes were littered all around him and he looked extremely disgruntled while trying to cover himself up.

I turned away with a chuckle, only to realize that I too had had negative side effects of using my powers. My clothes were completely drenched and my hair was dripping water onto the floor. In other words, I looked like a drowned rat.

Sue looked over to Reed, who nodded thoughtfully. "I can fix that," he said assuredly.

As soon as Reed headed off to work, I left for my room to change out of my wet clothes. I was passing through the living room when I heard the phone ringing. Making the necessary detour, I walked over and picked the wireless phone up off the receiver.

"Richards' residence," I said.

"Uh, hi. Is this Kara?" a masculine voice asked.

"Yes, this is Kara."

"Hi, it's Tom. From the bridge?"

Now that I recognized the voice on the other end, I brightened up considerably. "Oh, hi! How are you?" I asked happily.

"I'm good," Tom replied. "How are you feeling?"

I blushed slightly. He was so sweet, asking me how I was feeling! "Much better, thanks," I told him.

"That's great."

Silence ensued and I wanted to laugh.

"Tom?" I asked, amusement in my voice.

"Yes?" he replied quickly.

"Not to seem rude, but is there a reason you called?"

"Oh, right! Sorry, I'm a little rusty at this," he said.

I grinned. He was going to ask me out, I knew he was!

"A little rusty at what?" I asked, playing dumb.

"Kara, I was wondering if-"

He stopped. I waited. And waited. And waited...

"Tom?" I said.

No answer.

Frustrated, I said, "Tom? Hello, are you there?"

Still no answer.

Suddenly, I smelled burning plastic. Confused, I looked around for the source of the smell. I took in the living room, which appeared completely normal. Then my eyes fell on the phone receiver, or that is, what was left of it. Now all that remained was a charred lump of melted plastic.

Then I saw Johnny.

"Oops," he said, while pulling a new shirt over his head. "Sorry."

Funny how he didn't appear all that remorseful.

He continued to gauge my expression, probably wondering if he should make a run for it. If I was him, I'd run... _fast_. Then again, I would still catch him. He'd better freakin' teleport out of here.

"You...," I hissed threateningly.

"Let me guess," he said, pointing at the phone still pressed against my ear, "Mr. Firefighter?"

"His name is Tom," I muttered angrily.

Johnny just shrugged. "Tough break. Don't worry; I'm sure he'll call back."

That's when I snapped.

I stepped forward slowly, my expression furious. "'HE'LL CALL BACK'? ON WHAT?! YOU TORCHED THE PHONE!"

Johnny, obviously slightly frightened now, stepped back from me with his hands outstretched. As if that was going to stop me from committing murder.

"Woah, slow down there, Richards. It was just a joke," he said.

"A JOKE?! YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY?!" I screamed.

He paused.

"Well, not anymore."

With a shriek, I hurled the phone at him. Johnny ducked just in time and the phone hit the wall, leaving a dent and clattering to the floor.

Johnny looked from the phone to me, his eyes wide with fear.

"Holy sh-"

"Johnny! Kara! What's going on up here?"

Reed entered the living room, followed closely Sue and Ben. Each of them had a look of panic on their face. They took in the phone on the ground, the melted receiver, and the looks on our faces. Sue immediately came to the correct conclusion.

"Johnny...," she said in that mother-ish tone as she shook her head at him.

"What?" he asked. I noticed how relieved he looked now that there were witnesses.

Continuing to shake her head, Sue picked up the phone, placed it on the table and turned to me.

"Kara, I'm sure he'll find a way to reach you. Then you can just explain to him what an _idiot_ my brother is," she said with a glare in Johnny's direction.

I let out a frustrated huff. Of course, Sue was right. And besides I couldn't kill Johnny with them all watching. Ben might support me and Reed might turn a blind eye, but Sue would be upset.

I can't for the life of me understand why...

With that, I stormed off to my bedroom, intent on spending the next few hours in isolation whilst plotting my revenge.


	7. Quarantine

**AN: **Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and/or favourited this story so far. You guys are great. As a reward, I give you a brand new chapter!! Yey! This one is a bit of a filler, but it needed to be put in before we get to all the good stuff :)

Enjoy and rememeber to **Read and Review!**

**XXX**

**Fantastic Five**

**Chapter Seven: Quarantine**

A few hours later I found myself in the lab with Reed again. So much for getting my revenge. Then again, Johnny was the subject of our tests. And mistakes have been known to happen in labs...

Currently, Johnny was running on a treadmill (shirtless, because he thought he was God's gift to women) while I monitored his heart rate and blood pressure. Johnny was eyeing me warily, as though I would attack at any moment. I just sat back quietly while Reed asked the questions.

"Is there something about flames?" Reed asked him suddenly. "About flaming, that you..."

Johnny gave him a look. "What are you trying to say? Just because I like to dress well and like to dance...," he said, without a single hitch in his breath.

The look on Reed's face was comical. I snorted quietly at the look of utter confusion on his face.

"What? No," Reed said, balancing a clipboard on his knee. "I'm trying to figure out why we each ended up with different symptoms."

I silently turned up the speed on the treadmill a few notches. Johnny kept up easily.

"Oh, well that's easy," he told Reed. "I'm hot. You're... well, you're a little limp. Sue's easy to see through. And Ben's always been a hardass."

I inwardly smirked. He completely ignored me in his analysis, probably to avoid any more of my wrath being turned in his direction. Sometimes, the guy was actually smart. Sometimes.

Then: "Why aren't you writing any of this down?"

Reed sighed and I rolled my eyes. Yeah, this was going to be a long process.

I slowed the treadmill to a stop and walked over to Johnny, who was still regarding me hesitantly. Without looking him in the face, I pulled the leads that monitored his heart rate off his bare chest and moved to walk away.

He grabbed my arm.

"Hey, look, I'm sorry," he said to the back of my head; I still hadn't turned around.

With a simple nod, I continued walking. I put the equipment away and took off my lab coat before turning to Reed.

"I'm going to go hang out with Ben for a little bit, okay?" I told him.

Reed, too busy with whatever he was doing, didn't acknowledge me. Another sigh escaped me before I left the lab.

I found Ben sitting on the couch in the living room, watching television.

"Hey," I said, sitting down next to him.

"Hey there, Care Bear," Ben replied in his gravelly voice. He was looking at me cautiously.

I sighed. "I'm fine, Ben. Really, I'm okay."

"Okay. Just don't let the hotshot get to you," he told me.

"I know," I replied. "He just... It's like... you know?"

Ben laughed. "Yeah, I know, Care Bear."

We spent a while in comfortable silence, laughing at all the rumours about the 'Fantastic Five'. We were still joking around when Reed, Sue, and Johnny entered the room, all wearing their blue space uniforms.

I looked at them with a raised eyebrow. "I didn't know we were putting on a fashion show..."

"Our uniforms were exposed to the storm, like us," Reed said, completely ignoring my statement, "so they can transform like us: becoming invisible, changing size on demand, or even being impervious to flame or water."

Ben chuckled. "You look like an eighties rock band," he told them, clearly amused.

"You know Ben," Sue said, holding his own uniform, "this material stretches. I'm sure I can figure out a way to make it fit."

"Nah, I wouldn't be caught dead wearing that," Ben replied.

Suddenly Johnny, who up until this point had been examining himself in the mirror, blurted, "I love these costumes! They're missing something though... some spice..."

Reed gave him a look. "They're not costumes," he said.

"You can't use your powers in public, Johnny," Sue added as a warning.

Like he was going to listen to that. Johnny Storm had selective hearing after all; he only heard what he wanted to hear.

"You guys are worse than NASA," he told them, walking away.

Sue yelled after him, "You could burn somebody!"

"Would not!"

As Sue stormed after him to argue, Ben nudged me gently.

"Maybe it's missing a utility belt?"

I burst into laughter, overlooking the disapproving look Reed was giving me.

XXX

The next few days consisted of more tests and staying in quarantine, altogether nothing too exciting. Johnny kept his distance from me most of the time, or as much as someone who lived in the same apartment could. Reed was practically living in the lab now, but that wasn't really any different from how he used to be. Sue had tried to venture out of the building to get groceries and was attacked by paparazzi. Now she refused to go outside. Ben was who I hung out with most of the time, but I noticed that as each day passed, he was slowly losing hope of a cure. I could tell he was missing Debbie bad.

So, life at the Baxter Building was pretty dull. Even worse, I hadn't heard a single peep from Tom.

Damn Johnny Storm.

Another morning of what was sure to be a monotonous day and I was in the kitchen trying to enjoy my breakfast. Johnny's sudden appearance was making that a little difficult, however.

Ben had just finished squeezing the life out of a dozen oranges for some juice and I was listening to Sue talk to Reed about the paparazzi incident when Johnny entered.

"Reed, we really can't go outside anymore," Sue said. "We are on the cover of every major publication, from People Magazine to..."

"Okay, people, let's make this quick," Johnny interrupted, walking past and stealing Ben's juice, "I've got places to go today."

Then he stopped, gave a sarcastic chuckle, and said, "Oh wait. I don't go anywhere!"

I continued to eat my Corn Flakes in silence. There was no way that I was going to get caught in another phone throwing match. I already owed Reed a new house phone... whenever I got the chance to go out and buy one.

Reed answered Johnny seriously. "Johnny, it is imperative that we stay inside for the foreseeable future," he said.

"I know, I know, but when you said that last time, my brain heard 'a week'."

Struggling to hold back all the sarcastic comebacks that I could have said in regards to Johnny's brain malfunctioning, I watched as Ben helplessly tried to pick up a fork that was now far too small for his massive fingers.

"Johnny," Sue said, "it's too dangerous for you to be in public."

"You've been saying that for years."

I stood up from my seat and walked over to the counter where Johnny was standing. He visibly stepped back, and I almost laughed. Good, he was still terrified.

Instead of attacking however, I pulled open a drawer and grabbed the large barbeque prongs. I handed them to Ben, who gave me a sad smile in return, before stepping back to lean my hip against the counter.

Reed continued to ramble. "What worries me is that our powers are evolving," he said.

Johnny, who had been playing with a paper napkin beside me, exclaimed, "I know! I'm so close to flying guys, I can feel it!"

He threw the napkin onto the counter, where it became engulfed in flames. I waited to see if he would notice it.

"You can't fly," Sue told him.

"Yet," Johnny replied. He still hadn't noticed the destructive little fireball he had created.

Sue, pointed behind him. "Can you put that napkin out?" she asked.

Confused, Johnny glanced behind him and did a double take. He spun around and attempted to pat out the flames. That only sparked more.

He glanced at me. "A little help?" he asked.

I pretended to look clueless. "Sorry, what?"

That earned me a glare and as he went back to his little indoor bonfire, I turned back to the conversation the others were having.

"So what's going on here? How're you going to cure us?" Ben asked Reed.

My brother, the scientist, had brought labelled diagrams to breakfast with him.

Reed held one up. "I'm going to build a machine to recreate the storm. The cosmic rays will travel from this generator to this chamber," he told us while mapping it out on the image. "If I can reverse the wave signal..."

"You can turn us back to normal," Ben finished.

The look of happiness and relief on his face made me smile. Finally, some good news.

Then I looked at Johnny, who was still struggling to put out the fire. So far, he'd managed to crisp a few papers and my box of Corn Flakes.

I rolled my eyes and held out my hand to the flames. I concentrated the water in my body to the palm of my hand and soon enough, a jet of water burst out of it. It was a little too powerful of a jet (I hadn't quite worked out how to control the water pressure yet) and I soaked Johnny, but I didn't feel too bad about it. Steam was rising off of him with a hiss as he glared at me.

"Thanks," he said sarcastically.

I shrugged. Point was, the fire was out.

"You can buy me a box of Corn Flakes now. And a new phone, while you're at it," I told him.

Johnny rolled his eyes _quietly_, which meant he agreed. Of course, I didn't need to tell him that I had emptied that box this morning.

"Are you two done?" Reed asked.

I looked at him innocently.

Sue, who had tried to ignore the mess we had made, asked Reed, "What are the risks?"

"Even a small miscalculation could increase our symptoms exponentially," He paused. "Or perhaps even kill us."

"Now, dying," Johnny began, "that's bad right?"

Again, Reed gave him a serious look.

Johnny continued, "I say we just let sleeping dogs lie, guys."

Ben, on the other hand, asked, "So how long until this contraption is up and running?"

Watching Reed, I noticed that he didn't look at Ben as he spoke, which could only mean bad news. "I don't know. It's hard to say..."

"How long, Reed?"

"I don't know! I-"

"You don't know?!" Ben cried, standing up.

"You don't want this to get worse..."

Johnny piped up, "Worse than _that_?"

I slapped him in the back of the head.

"Guys!" Sue yelled, turning everyone silent, "Look, we're going to be stuck here for a while, so let's just try and get along. Okay?"

I could just tell from the look on Johnny's face that getting along was the absolute last thing on his mind.


	8. Out of Character

**AN:** Thank you to all my lovely reviewers! And hoorah for another chapter! This one's a bit short, but I really like it. We'll get a little insight into Kara's powers and we'll discover something bizarre... that Johnny Storm actually has a soul.

Maybe.

**Read & Review! **:)

**XXX**

**The Fantastic Five**

**Chapter Eight: Out of Character**

Who knew that sharing an apartment with four other people could be so difficult?

I did. But no one ever listened to me.

Sure, there was a lot of room at the Baxter Building... for stuff. The lab took up most of the room already. And when it was just Reed and I in the apartment, there was always enough breathing space. But with Ben, Sue, Johnny, and Johnny's ego, there was absolutely no privacy.

Despite this, I tried to spend as much time as I could practicing how to control my powers. Reed didn't exactly approve of this since this was all only temporary anyway, but I thought it could be useful to see just to what extent I could push my abilities.

I was standing in the bathroom with a towel wrapped around my body. I usually practiced in the bathroom due to the constant reservoir of water that I had at my disposal. That and because if I made a mess with the water, it wasn't that big a deal to clean up. Reed hadn't really appreciated the last time I had tried practicing in the living room. I now owed him a new stereo system because I fried the old one.

When it came to my powers, it seemed that practice makes perfect. The more I used them, the more I got a feel for them. For example, I could now gauge the pressure of the water whenever I blasted something (Johnny). Besides that, I hadn't really discovered anything else about my abilities. I hadn't 'floated' since the bridge incident, although whenever I took a shower I hovered a few inches off the shower floor.

Johnny, however, had managed to engulf his upper torso in flames on command. Why did he get the cool power?

I focused on myself in the mirror, imagining myself turning into water. Nothing happened.

With a sigh, I left the bathroom and went to my room to change. I heard Ben's voice in the distance, shouting Johnny's name from somewhere within the apartment. It was soon followed by loud thumping which I identified as Ben's heavy footsteps. This kind of thing (where Johnny had done something to merit being chased by Ben) had happened enough times for me to identify the sounds. For example, in a few moments Ben was going to crash into something or loose balance, but Johnny's laughter would tell me that he had gotten away unscathed... again.

I heard Ben crash just as I entered my bedroom and I winced. Poor guy. He barely fit through the hallways of the apartment anymore.

I changed quickly and fixed myself up before leaving to find something productive to do. I could go help Reed in the lab, but I thought that might drive me crazy. Sue was most likely with Reed and Ben was too busy chasing after Johnny at the moment. I glanced down at my watch. It was seven o'clock at night. Still too early to go to bed. But I really had nothing better to do...

Suddenly the phone (the new one that Johnny had ordered online and had delivered because we _still _weren't allowed outside) rang. I walked across the living room, looked around cautiously for Johnny, and picked up the phone.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Hi Kara."

Needless to say I was stunned when I heard the voice. Was I dreaming? I must have been. This wasn't actually happening. It was impossible.

"Tom?" I said unbelievingly. "How did you get this number?"

He hesitated. "Uh, I'm not supposed to say..."

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. "What?"

"Can you do me a favour?" he asked quickly, changing the subject.

"Uh, sure?"

"Can you put on something nice and be ready to go out to dinner in an hour?"

The biggest grin broke out on my face. "I can do that," I replied happily.

I could almost feel the smile on his face. "Great. I'll meet you in the lobby at eight."

I said goodbye before I hung up the phone. Excitedly, I ran to the lab to find Sue. I rushed into the lab and found her, along with Reed and Ben.

"Sue!" I yelled. "If you weren't my favourite person before, you are now!"

They looked at me, confused, but I didn't mind. I hugged Sue tightly, saying 'Thank you' a billion times. I don't know how she did it, but she found Tom and explained everything and gave him the new number. I so owed her.

"Uh, thanks Kara," Sue said, hugging me back with a smile. "Can I ask what I did to become your favourite person?"

I gave her a sly smile. "Like you don't know. Tom called and he's taking me out to dinner. Thank you so much!"

"Wait," Reed interrupted. "Kara, you can't go out. None of us can."

Way to crush my spirits, big brother.

"Reed!" I whined. "That's not fair!"

Sue turned to him. "Reed, it's just one night," she said. "Let her go have some fun. She's responsible. It's not like we're setting Johnny on the city. She'll be fine."

It was a good thing that Reed was still totally in love with Sue, or he never would have agreed. But he easily gave in and I gave him a hug. I gave Ben a hug too before I ran to get ready.

My room turned into a disaster area a lot sooner than I had expected. Clothes were thrown everywhere, along with different bags and shoes. However I quickly decided on a simple, but elegant black cocktail dress, a pair of black heels, and a black clutch bag as an accessory. I pinned my hair back into a neat bun and did my makeup. By the time I was done, I had ten minutes to spare.

I spritzed some perfume before I left my room and made my way to the living room area. When I entered, Johnny was sitting on the couch watching the motocross games with a bag of jiffy pop in his hands. He looked up at the sound of my heels and I swore his eyes widened when he saw me.

"Wow. You look half decent, Richards," he said.

I guess that was his way of saying I looked kinda nice.

"Thanks Storm," I replied.

He gave me one more glance before turning back to the television. "I'm sure Mr. Firefighter will appreciate getting to walk around in public with you on his arm," he said.

Again, I wasn't quite sure if that was a compliment or not.

"So you know that Sue called him?" I asked.

He looked up at me, his face confused. "Sue?" he said. Then he laughed. "Oh! You think Sue called him."

Now it was my turn to look confused. "Well, she did, didn't she?"

Johnny shook his head.

"Ben?" I guessed.

He shook his head again.

"Reed?"

Again, no.

I paused. "Well, Tom didn't get the number on his own!"

Now Johnny looked frustrated. "Who else _in this apartment_ that you _haven't already named_, could have called?"

I remained silent.

Johnny sighed. "Me! I called him!" he exclaimed. "Jeez, is it really that out of character?"

I gaped at him, stunned. "You called Tom? Why?"

He looked me in the eyes and said, "Because... I really wanted to see how badly you would screw this up."

I rolled my eyes. For a second there, I was beginning to think that Johnny Storm had a soul. Oh, how wrong I was.

I shook my head disappointedly and said, "Goodnight Johnny."

He didn't reply as I left the living room. I made my way to the elevator, my good mood rapidly dwindling. How could he be so insensitive? How could he be so immature? A million questions and very few answers swirled around in my head as I rode the elevator down to the ground floor.

When the doors opened I looked up, and so did Tom. He was standing in the middle of the lobby with a dozen red roses in his hand and a smile on his face. My mood lightened immediately and I smiled back at him as I stepped out of the elevator.

Like Johnny, Tom's eyes seemed to grow a fraction bigger and his mouth dropped open.

"Wow..."

_You look half decent, Richards..._

"... you're beautiful."

See, I knew _that _was a compliment.

With a bashful smile I said, "Thanks. You don't look too bad yourself."

Tom could certainly dress up. He was wearing black dress slacks with black dress shoes, a forest green dress shirt and black jacket, his hair was done neatly and he was clean shaven, and I could smell the faintest whiff of cologne.

He looked down at the roses and held them out to me. "Um, I got these for you," he said. "I don't know if it's too much for the first date, but..."

"They're beautiful," I told him, taking the roses from him. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he replied with a relieved smile.

Tom wouldn't tell me what he had planned for our date, no matter how much I begged. We walked for about a block to this nice little Italian restaurant that I had never seen before. The owner, whose son worked with Tom as a firefighter, was a jovial man named Roberto. The food was absolutely delicious and when I told Roberto this, he said, "I like this girl, Tommy. You'd better not mess this up, or you won't be allowed in my restaurant anymore." I laughed at the joke, but it soon turned to a blush when Tom insisted that he wasn't going to screw this up.

_I really wanted to see how badly you would screw this up... _

I ignored the annoying thought.

We finished dinner and Roberto told me to come back soon, and Tom led me out of the restaurant. I was about to walk away in the direction of the Baxter Building when Tom grabbed my hand.

"Where do you think you're going?" he said jokingly. "The date's not over yet."

I smiled exuberantly. Good, because I didn't want to go home yet.

Tom, who to my great pleasure was still holding my hand, led me across the street towards Central Park. After a little walk we turned the corner and I gasped. In front of us was a beautiful horse-drawn carriage, whose driver opened the carriage door when he saw us.

Tom led me over to the carriage and helped me inside before getting in himself. I was in complete awe as the horses began to trot through Central Park, which was beautiful at night.

"This is beautiful. I've always wanted to do this," I told Tom who smiled.

"I'm glad you like it," he said.

We chatted for a good hour as the carriage made its way through the park. I was beginning to think that Tom had paid the driver extra for a longer ride, because there was no way that it was supposed to be this long. Not that I minded in the least.

"So anyway, I'm completely under quarantine until Reed can figure out a way to reverse this," I told him.

Tom nodded. "Does that mean I'm going to have to wait a long time for the second date?"

I smiled. Second date! "Well, lucky for you my brother's only weakness is on my side," I told him.

He laughed. "Good. I don't think I could wait very long."

We sat in comfortable silence for a while before Tom asked, "Do you ever think about just keeping your powers? You could save a lot of lives, not just mine."

I understood where this was coming from. During dinner I had asked him why he had wanted to become a firefighter. He explained to me that his father had died in a house fire when he was just a teenager. He hadn't been able to do anything to help him. Tom said that at his father's funeral, he had sworn to save as many people as he could so that kids like him didn't have to grow up without a parent too.

"Sometimes," I replied. "I know I could do a lot of good with my powers. But the thing is, there are a lot of firefighters out there. There aren't a lot of people with abilities like mine. People would expect me to save everybody because of these extraordinary powers, but I can't. I don't think I could handle that kind of pressure... that kind of failure."

Tom put his arm around my shoulders, drawing me close, and said, "When I first became a firefighter, I expected myself to save everybody. I quickly learned that I can't. There have been a lot of people that I couldn't save, Kara. Not because I didn't want too, but because I just couldn't. But even though I couldn't save those people, I know I've done some good when a parent thanks me for saving their child."

I nodded. I knew he was right. If I could save just one person...

The carriage came to a stop and we got out, Tom holding my hand to help me step down from the carriage. We thanked the driver and began to stroll back to the Baxter Building, Tom holding my hand the whole way.

Finally we reached the front doors of the Baxter Building and I turned to face him.

"I had a really nice time tonight," I said.

"Me too," Tom said, "Hopefully your brother will let you out for the second date."

I laughed and Tom joined me.

I smiled at him and said, "Well... goodnight Tom."

Slowly Tom leaned down to touch his lips to mine. It was a short, sweet kiss, but it was enough. He pulled away with a big smile and said, "Goodnight Kara."


	9. A Simple Life

**AN:** Thank you soooooo much to all those who reviewed and/or favourited and/or story alerted so far! You guys are amazing and are a big help with keeping me on top of updating this story. So cheers to you! :)

Here's a brand new one for you guys!

**Read & Review!**

**XXX**

**The Fantastic Five**

**Chapter Nine: A Simple Life**

I woke up the next morning with a smile on my face as I thought about the previous night. Tom was so sweet and gentlemanly. Apparently there was a God, and he didn't hate me after all.

I dressed and went to the kitchen, where Reed and Sue were having breakfast.

"Goodmorning!" I chirped.

Sue smiled at me. Reed looked confused, like he didn't understand why I was so happy. Then again, he probably didn't. I also noticed he was wearing his space uniform and a lab coat.

"I take it last night went well?" Sue asked.

"Oh Sue! Tom is so great! And funny, and smart... Thank God Johnny..."

I trailed off. I almost admitted that I was grateful Johnny called Tom. I couldn't do that. That would be like showing appreciation to him. Which was out of the question.

Sue nodded. "I guess you figured out he was the one who called, not me."

"I bet it was your idea though."

She just shrugged.

Then Reed spoke up. "Speaking of Johnny, where is he? He can't still be sleeping."

"I don't know," Sue replied. "I haven't seen him since yesterday..."

"Guys!" came Ben's voice from the living room.

I gave Reed and Sue a look before bolting to the living room, where Ben was standing watching the television. I looked at the screen and my jaw dropped.

"No...," I said.

There, on the television, was Johnny.

"He didn't," Sue said disapprovingly, her hands resting on her hips in a very motherly fashion.

"Oh, yes he did," Ben replied a little less calmly. "Flame boy never listens."

"What did he do to his uniform?" Sue exclaimed.

I looked at Johnny on the television and saw that he was wearing his blue space uniform, but there was a silver emblem with the number '5' stuck to his chest.

A woman appeared on the screen with Johnny, who was standing before a crowd of giggling girls inside the motocross stadium.

"Johnny, I've got to ask you about this outfit," the interviewer asked.

"Yeah, it's sort of Armani meets astronaut," Johnny replied.

Then the woman asked, "So what are your superhero names?"

"Superhero?" I asked.

Johnny seemed to light up at the idea. "Well, they call me The Human Torch... the ladies call me Torch."

The girls around him giggled and 'oohed'. I wanted to throw up.

"What about the rest of the team?"

A picture of Sue appeared.

"Oh no...," I sighed. This was going to be bad.

"That's The Invisible Girl," Johnny said.

Sue raised an eyebrow. "Girl?" she repeated, insulted.

The interviewer asked, "What about your leader, Reed Richards? I hear they call him Mr. Fantastic."

Ben shrugged and said to Reed, "Could've been worse."

Reed nodded in agreement before turning back to the television where his picture was displayed.

The interviewer continued. "Is it true what they say about him? That he can expand _any _part of his anatomy?"

That sent the girls into another fit of giggles. Now I _really_ wanted to throw up.

Johnny grinned. "Well, I've always found him to be a little limp," he said.

Reed looked horrified by the comment, but it got a good laugh from the gaggle of girls surrounding Johnny. It wasn't even that clever. Not really.

Next a picture of Ben appeared on the screen.

"What is _that_?" the interviewer asked Johnny. "What do you call that thing?"

Johnny replied, "That's it: The Thing. Yeah, you think this is bad, you should`ve seen him before..."

Ben, who looked ready to smash something, said, "I'm gunna kill him."

"Ben, hold on," Reed said.

And then a picture of me appeared on the screen.

The interviewer looked at Johnny. "Kara Richards, beautiful and brilliant scientist. What do you call her?"

"Oh, we call her Cyclone," Johnny responded with a grin. "But with her temper, she's more like a tsunami, if you know what I mean..."

"A tsunami?" I breathed, clearly pissed off. Ben had to put a restraining hand on my shoulder, but I could tell he was none too pleased with my 'superhero name' either.

However, the interviewer continued. "Now Johnny, we've been hearing some rumours... Are you and Cyclone an item?"

"WHAT?" I yelled.

The girls around Johnny pouted, but he immediately began to placate them. "Ladies! Ladies! Calm down! There's enough of The Torch to go around!"

"C'mon Johnny, the viewers want to know," the interviewer told him. "Is there a steamy romance going on within the Fantastic Five?"

No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.

It really wasn't difficult to say!

Johnny smiled slyly. "Well, when you put it that way..."

And they were off. Reporters began scribbling on their notepads. The gaggle of girls, though looking disappointed, began to whisper amongst themselves. The interviewer looked extremely satisfied that she had uncovered the big secret. And Johnny didn't say a word to disprove any of it.

Johnny Storm was a dead man.

"Okay," Ben said furiously, "now I'm gonna kill him."

"Right behind you," I added.

XXX

When we reached the motocross stadium, crowds of people were lined up outside, all waiting to catch a glimpse or a photo of Johnny. Reporters were everywhere, as well as screaming fans.

Sue, Reed, Ben, and I pushed our way through the crowd easily and headed straight for Johnny, who was walking with a girl on either arm.

"There he is," Sue said, speeding forward.

I quickly followed her, leaving Ben and Reed behind me.

We reached Johnny who, despite the smile on his face, was not happy to see us.

"Johnny...," Sue began.

"Look, can we talk about this later, guys?" Johnny interrupted, smiling for the cameras.

"No, we can't talk about this later!" I yelled at him. "What is wrong with you?"

"We can do this at home..."

We walked towards the curb, by which point Johnny was completely ignoring us. He stopped, looked around the street, and said, "Where's my ride?"

Suddenly the sound of glass smashing reached my ears and my eyes fell upon the ball of twisted red metal.

Oh. There's his car.

Johnny gazed at the red ball in horror, his eyes wide and his mouth agape. Then, out of nowhere, flew his car's license plate, which struck him in the head. It was only then that I realized Ben hadn't been with us the whole time, and was in fact the one that had destroyed Johnny's car.

Major points for Ben.

"You think that's funny, Pebbles?" Johnny yelled as the two squared off.

Sue yelled his name to get his attention, but Johnny continued to stare Ben down.

Sue continued anyways. "You gave us names? You don't think! So what, now you're the face of the Fantastic Five?"

"A face that's about to be broken," Ben threatened as he stepped right up to Johnny.

Reed put himself between the two and tried, like always, to take the logical route. "This isn't permanent Johnny," he said. "We need to be careful until we're normal again."

"What if I don't want to be normal?" Johnny exclaimed. Then he pointed at Ben and added, "I didn't turn into a monster!"

Ben winded up to hit Johnny square in the face, but Sue stopped him. Frustrated, Ben turned around to walk away.

Johnny wasn't finished though.

Ben stopped when a fireball hit him in the back of the head. He turned slowly, threateningly. "Did you just...?"

Another fireball hit him, this time in the face.

"That's it, Tinkerbell!" Ben yelled, stalking over to Johnny. "You wanna fly? Then fly!"

Ben punched right through Reed, who had stepped between the two to try to prevent them from fighting, into Johnny, who was sent flying back into a billboard. Johnny got up, shook himself off, and walked towards Ben.

"Let's see if we can get blood from a stone," Johnny said.

Ben replied, "Let's see. Bring it, burnout."

"You two need a timeout!" Sue yelled, stepping between them and throwing her hands out.

Ben glared at Johnny one last time before storming away, Sue following. I thought about following Ben too, but I didn't want to talk to him while he was angry. Years of him acting like a big brother had taught me to leave him alone and wait for him to cool off.

I turned to Reed and Johnny. Reed was giving Johnny a well deserved disapproving look.

"What?" Johnny exclaimed.

"You need to control yourself," Reed told him. "Think before you act."

Johnny replied. "That's your problem! You always think and never act!" Then he said, "What if we got these powers for a reason? What if it's like some higher calling?"

"A higher calling like getting girls and making money?"

"Is there any higher?" Johnny asked. "You know what Reed, this is who we are. Accept it. Or better yet, _enjoy_ it!"

Like Sue before him, Reed shook his head at Johnny before walking away.

That left just me and him.

I stared at the ground for a while until Johnny said, "What? Are you going to lecture me too?"

"I... I don't even know what to say to you anymore," I told him, finally looking up.

Johnny looked surprised that I wasn't yelling at him. I suppose he should be, because my usual reaction when it came to him was to scream. But I was too stunned by the way he had acted and the things he had said.

"How could you do this?" I asked him. "Make up those lies about us? So what, we're in a 'steamy romantic' relationship now?"

"Oh come on, Richards. I was just playing the audience. You know none of it is true," he replied.

I laughed coldly. "I do. But they don't," I said, pointing at the reporters. "I know you don't care about the kind of reputation you make, Johnny. But I do."

Now he looked angry. "Oh okay. So dating me gives you a bad reputation. Got it."

I rolled my eyes. "That's not what I meant..."

"Sure it is!" Johnny exclaimed. "I get it. I'm not good enough for the high and mighty Kara Richards!"

"Johnny, stop it. Why does everything have to be a joke to you?"

"Who said I was joking?"

I sighed. "You know what Johnny, I don't..."

I trailed off as a figure caught my eyes over Johnny's shoulder. He was tall and muscular, with short brown hair and warm brown eyes. And he was looking straight at me with a hurt expression on his face.

"Tom," I breathed rushing past Johnny, who followed me with his eyes to see where I was going.

When Tom saw me coming, he turned and walked away towards the crowd. I ran after him, grabbing his arm.

"Tom, let me explain," I said, turning him to face me.

"You don't have to explain anything to me, Kara," Tom said, his eyes tired.

I sighed. "Yes, I do. Look, Johnny just made up that story about us. None of it is true. He was just being a jerk and..."

"Kara, Kara, stop," Tom said, putting his hands on my shoulders to calm me down. "I know all that."

I stared back at him, a surprised look passing over my face. "You do?" I asked.

Tom nodded.

"Oh, good," I said with a sigh of relief. "So we're okay then?"

Now Tom sighed and looked down at his feet. "Kara, do you remember when I first called you at home and I said that I was a little rusty at this whole dating thing?"

I nodded, not knowing where this was going.

"It had been three years since I've been on a date," he told me. "Three years since my fiancé left me for my best man."

"Oh. Tom, I'm sorry," I told him.

He continued, "I was so ready to settle down and start a family. I still want that."

"Well, it's still a little soon to tell, but if this goes well..."

"Kara," Tom interrupted, "it's not that simple. Look around you. The whole city knows who you are, and whether you have abilities or not, you'll still be the beautiful and brilliant Kara Richards. You'll never have a quiet, peaceful life."

"Yes, I will!" I argued.

Tom smiled gently. "You're going to do great things, Kara. You're not destined for a simple life."

I remained silent. Was he right? Was I never going to have a normal life? Were these powers going to affect me my whole life? I'd always thought about my future; mapped it out. I pictured myself standing outside a beautiful home with a perfect green lawn, watching as two or three children ran around in the yard. My husband would kiss my cheek and tell me he loved me. Was that dream shattered? Gone?

I was pulled from my thoughts by Tom's voice.

"I'm sorry, Kara," he said. He leaned down and kissed my cheek. "Goodbye."

And as I watched him walk away, I knew that all my dreams of a normal life were going with him. Because Tom was right. I was going to do great things. I was not destined for a simple life.

And it started now.


	10. A Chemistry Lesson Part 1

**AN:** Dear, readers. I'm terribly sorry for the late update. Things have been quite chaotic recently, and my writing was put on the back-burner. However, I was given a free weekend (finally) so I decided it was time to update a new chapter, before you hunted me down and murdered me. So, here it is!

Love, impalame.

P.S. Reviews are very much welcome. :)

**XXX**

**The Fantastic Five**

**Chapter Ten: A Chemistry Lesson**

**Part One**

These powers happened for a reason. They had to. I was in the right place at the right time with the right circumstances. That couldn't all be coincidence. Though I hated to admit it, maybe Johnny was right. Maybe this was a higher calling. Maybe we were given these powers to help people.

Maybe we should keep them.

These were the thoughts running through my head as I sat alone in a cafe near the Baxter Building. I didn't want to go home just yet. I didn't want to see anyone just yet. I needed time to think.

The cafe was nearly empty; only about two people were working and there was only one other person besides myself inside. It was quiet and the people inside didn't seem to care that I was Kara Richards of the Fantastic Five.

It was normal.

I shook my head. I had to stop thinking that. I'm not normal; never would be again. I was different now. But that was a good thing... right? I mean, I could save people. That was good.

A sigh escaped. Why me? Why was I special? The five of us; why were we chosen for this?

I looked down at my watch. It was nearing eight o'clock. I'd been gone for hours. Surely, the others would be worried about me.

I paid for my coffees (yes, plural) and left. It was already dark outside and getting chilly. I pulled my coat tighter around me, glad that I had decided to throw it on when I left the apartment earlier. Slowly, I began to walk to the Baxter Building, which was a few blocks away.

My thoughts continued to consume me on my walk back home. I couldn't escape them. Everything happened all so quickly. Just a few weeks ago, I was Kara Richards, younger sister of Reed Richards, the genius scientist. Now...

A blinding light caught my attention from the corner of my eye. I fully turned to look in the direction it was coming from and froze. Terror filled my body. Just a few blocks away, the top floor of the Baxter Building, my floor, was engulfed in a brilliant white light.

Someone was using the machine.

It wasn't ready yet.

With a burst of speed, I raced in the direction of the apartment. Adrenaline pumped through my system, pushing me faster and faster.

Dammit. Why was Johnny the only one that could fly?

I was a couple blocks in when it happened again. The entire Baxter Building was swallowed up in darkness except for the top floor, which flickered with white light. My legs pushed harder and harder as I ran down the street.

It took ten minutes to reach the building; too late to save anyone that needed to be saved. I got to the main doors, and paused for a moment. The glass had been shattered and the wooden door frames were hanging limply. Pushing through the crowd of curious onlookers, I ran into the Baxter Building towards the elevator, pushing the up button. The doors slid open and I jumped inside, pressing the button for the top floor.

It seemed like ages for the elevator to move up.

As soon as the doors slid open, I bolted into the apartment. Everything in the lab was destroyed. Shelves were toppled over, machines broken; even part of a railing was... melted? Looking up, I saw that a window was wrecked; it looked like someone had thrown themselves through it.

I continued to survey the damage when my eyes fell on a particularly horrifying sight. Ben's coat, wrapped over an unconscious body.

"Ben?" I cried, running over to the figure.

I grabbed the figure's shoulders and turned them over. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was Ben; before the storm. All the strange orange rock was gone. He was Ben again.

The machine worked.

"Ben!" I called again, more desperate for him to wake up. I checked his pulse; he was still alive. "C'mon Ben. Wake up."

"Kara?"

I looked up at my name. Johnny came through the elevator doors, looking around at the devastation in the lab.

I actually smiled at him. "Johnny! The machine worked!"

He turned the corner and saw Ben, immediately running over to give me a hand. Johnny grabbed one of Ben's arms and I grabbed the other and we hauled him into a sitting position.

Johnny hesitated. "Is he...?"

"He'll be fine," I told him, relief evident in my tone.

And even though Johnny fought with Ben all the time, I could see that he was just as happy as I was that Ben was okay.

We suddenly heard footsteps and the two of us looked up to see Sue rushing towards us. She took everything in, her expression one of worry. Then she saw us and rushed over.

"Oh my god, Ben."

"It's okay, Sue," Johnny told her, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "He's going to be okay."

Fine. Johnny Storm had a heart.

All of a sudden Ben let out a low groan. The three of us immediately turned our attention on him.

"Ben," I said, placing my hand on his. "Ben, open your eyes."

Slowly he lifted his eyelids until he was looking into mine. I gave him a small smile, which he seemed grateful for. Because then I saw the regret in his eyes.

Johnny spoke up, drawing Ben's attention away from me. "What happened, big guy? I leave you for five minutes..."

Ben, breathing slowly, said, "The machine... Vic used it on himself. He was affected by the cloud, like us."

Vic? Wait, Victor? Von Doom? What was he doing here?

"Where's Reed?" Sue asked.

"Vic must've taken him," Ben replied.

No.

I looked up, to where the window was broken. Had Victor sent Reed through that?

Johnny, Sue, and Ben followed my gaze, thinking the same thing. I stood and rushed to the doorway that led out to the balcony, Johnny and Sue following close behind. The balcony was littered with shards of glass.

"Von Doom must have taken Reed back to his building," I told them.

Before anything else was said, a whirling sound reached my ears. I turned, looking out onto the city. A small, tiny fleck of light was speeding towards us through the air.

Sue started, terrified. "Is that...?"

"It's heat-seeking," I said, looking at Johnny.

He already knew the missile was locked on him. He looked down at himself, almost cursing his ridiculously high body temperature, and then back up at me.

We had the same idea.

Sue, however, had not clued in yet. "We've got to get out of here," she told us.

"Wait a minute," Johnny said, "I've got an idea."

He stepped up to the edge of the balcony and looked down the fifty-story building into the traffic below.

Suddenly, this didn't seem like such a good idea anymore.

"Johnny...," I said. "Maybe this isn't..."

He looked me dead in the eyes. "It's the only way, Kara."

Then he slowly backed up, bracing himself.

Sue finally clicked in. "Don't even think about it!"

"Never do."

With that, he hurled himself off the balcony.

"JOHNNY!" Sue and I screamed as we watched him plummet towards the ground.

He got steadily smaller and smaller the more he fell; we almost couldn't see him in the dark. I looked up for a brief second to see that the missile had indeed followed Johnny, arching and turning down towards the street below. Sue was deathly silent as she watched her brother.

Johnny was still falling...

"Come on," I muttered.

He kept falling...

"Johnny..."

He was getting closer and closer to the pavement...

"Come on!" I yelled.

Miraculously, my eyes saw a burst of flame as Johnny transformed. He pulled out of the hard dive just in time and flew, he was actually _flying_, through the city with the missile on his tail.

Sue let out a cry of joy and I smiled at her, before remembering that my own brother wasn't quite out of the woods yet. I pulled away from the balcony, as did Sue. Ben was standing behind us, using the door frame to hold himself up.

"We have to help Reed," he said desperately.

Sue ran into the apartment, probably to put on her suit. I made to follow her, when I saw that Ben was following me.

"Stay here, Ben," I told him. I was all but running to my room, but he managed to keep up with me.

"No," he said, "I'm coming with you."

"No, you're not," I replied sternly.

"Kara..."

"No Ben!" I yelled, turning to face him. "It's too dangerous for you now. You have to stay here."

With a final look I ran to my room. Jumping over all the clutter, I went to my closet and pulled out my own blue space suit. The Fantastic Five symbol was embellished on the front.

And I felt proud to wear it.

XXX

I'd never moved so fast in my life than I did racing to Von Doom's building. Ben was safe. Johnny could take care of the missile. Sue was beside me. But my brother, the dumbest smart guy on the planet, was in trouble.

I'd never moved so fast in my life.

We reached the entrance to Von Doom's building, but Sue had stopped.

"Sue?"

I followed her gaze up. I trail of fire zoomed overhead of us, followed by the missile. Johnny. We watched him approach the river, the missile close behind. A ball of fire was shot into the river; it was only then that I noticed the barge floating in the middle. The barge caught fire quickly. Johnny continued to fly towards it, and I caught on to his logic. He was going to try to lose the missile in the flames.

Johnny and the missile disappeared in the fire. There was a beat of silence, and then a massive blast as the missile exploded. A ball of flames rose up into the sky and heat poured over us. I felt my skin sizzle slightly.

Then, to both mine and Sue's horror, a figure shot out of the explosion and into the water of the river.

"Johnny!" Sue cried.

I didn't know what to do. My mind and body were torn. My mind was telling me to help Reed, my _own_ brother. But my body was pulling me towards the river to help Sue's brother.

Sue looked equally torn, looking between the river and the building in front of us.

We didn't have time to waste thinking.

"Sue, go help Reed," I ordered.

She looked at me, fear for her brother in her eyes. She hesitated, looking towards the river. "But..."

"I'll help Johnny," I told her. "Now _go_!"

With a nod, Sue headed into the dark building and I ran towards the river.

I called for Johnny when I reached the riverbank. Maybe he had climbed out himself. I began to doubt that theory when I didn't hear him call back.

I dove into the dark water. As I had come to expect, the water swirled around me and my body tingled as it soaked up water. I cut through the river easily with the water pushing behind me and my eyes had no trouble seeing through the dark, murky water. I searched for Johnny as I cut through the water.

It only took me a few seconds to find him floating lifelessly in the water. I grabbed onto him and pushed us up. We broke through the surface. Still holding onto Johnny around the middle, I looked at his still face.

No. I couldn't be too late.

We got to the riverbank in seconds. Luckily Johnny wasn't heavy to drag because I made the water do most of the pushing. I hoisted us onto the ground, laying Johnny on his back.

I hovered over him, tapping his shoulders and face lightly.

"Johnny," I called. "Come on Storm, wake up."

Nothing.

"Come on, no more kidding around," I told him, shaking him a little.

Nothing.

"Johnny, please..."

Nothing.

Kneeling beside him, I tilted his chin up to open up his airway. I leaned down, putting my ear to his mouth.

Nothing.

I placed my hands on his chest and began the compressions. I leaned down again, listening for a breath.

Nothing.

"Dammit," I breathed. "Come on, Johnny."

I did the compressions again. Still nothing.

Hopelessness began to sink in, but I shook myself. No. There was still time. There had to be time.

I tilted his chin up and pinched his nose. I leaned down and placed my lips on his.

I pulled back after two breaths.

I waited.

Nothing.

Tears started flowing freely and I put my face in my hands.

And right there, I began to cry for Johnny Storm. I cried for him. I cried for Sue. I cried.

A sharp breath ripped me from my thoughts and I looked down. He coughed, spewing water onto the ground next to him. His eyes opened.

I let out a relieved laugh.

Smiling, I looked at Johnny, who was trying to get his bearings. I placed my hands on either side of his face, forcing him to look at me.

"How are you feeling? Does your head hurt?" I asked him.

He looked at me oddly. For a moment, I wished I could read minds.

"I'm fine," he told me.

I moved my hands away from his face and he sat up, stretching. He looked around, slowly recalling what happened. Or so I thought.

"What happened?" he asked turning to face me. Then he licked his lips. "Why do I taste cherry?"

"I'll fill you in later. We have to go," I said, pulling him up.

Surprisingly, he managed to stand on his own two feet without my assistance. He looked around again, and then he looked at me.

He looked at me strangely.

"Are you crying?"

I quickly looked down at my feet.

"No," I muttered, trying to inconspicuously wipe at my face.

A pause. "Okay then...," he said.

I started walking along the bank. I was _not_ going to let Johnny see me crying, especially over him. I was just being stupid.

"We need to get to Von Doom's building," I told him as he followed behind me. "Sue went to go help Reed."

"We're going to walk there?"

I rolled my eyes. "Did you have another idea?"

"Yeah actually."

I turned around. Johnny was standing on the river bank, his body totally engulfed in flames. Why was it that this super power thing came so friggen naturally to him?

I scoffed. "That's great. You can fly. Am I supposed to swim there?"

He actually pondered the idea.

"I am not swimming there!"

"Okay fine!" he said, holding his hands up defensively. Then he said, "Come here."

"What?"

Now he rolled his eyes. "The big fight will be over by the time we get there if you plan on being stubborn, Richards."

I walked over to him and he held his arms out.

I stopped. "Do you want me to pass out?" I said.

"You won't if you're using your powers to balance it out."

The scientist in me started to calculate variables and weigh the pros and cons. I came to the conclusion that I really had no other choice.

I knew that if I was to get close enough for Johnny to hold me, I would need a lot of water all at once to fight off his flames. So, I thought about just that. Closing my eyes, I imagined all the water in my body pouring out and surrounding me like a shield. I pictured myself doing what Johnny could do, being completely consumed by my element. Transforming into water...

"Woah!"

I opened my eyes. Johnny was staring at me, his eyes wide.

"What?" I asked.

Then I looked down at myself.

I was completely made of water; I could see through to my other side. I could have spent hours admiring the way building lights reflected off of me, but Johnny suddenly grabbed my arm and pulled me against him.

No sizzle.

"Hold on," he told me.


	11. A Chemistry Lesson Part 2

**AN:** Hello everyone! Here is an early holiday present for all of you! The FINAL chapter of Everything Burns! Woo! Don't fret though. We've only covered the first movie. So enjoy the conclusion of Everything Burns (Part One), and get excited for the beginning of Part Two (COMING SOON!)

**Read&Review!**** :)**

**XXX**

**The Fantastic Five**

**Chapter Eleven: A Chemistry Lesson**

**Part Two**

I wrapped my arms around his neck and Johnny put his tightly around my waist just as he pushed off from the ground. We flew through the city too quickly for me to even see. All I focused on was not falling.

Johnny began to slow down and I looked towards the ground. There was utter devastation in this area of the city. Vehicles were flipped over, parts of the road were broken, and people were either fleeing or trying to get a better seat for the show. That's when I saw Von Doom faced off against Sue, Reed, and Ben, who had gone back to his rocky, orange state.

Johnny removed one of his arms from my waist to throw a fireball at Von Doom, which hit him in the side. A split second later we landed and I let go of Johnny, focusing my attention on Von Doom. I couldn't see much of a difference in him, other than the shiny metal mask he was wearing.

I sucked the water back in, returning to normal. Johnny did the same and together we walked over to the others.

I stood between Johnny and Reed, the latter who looked at me and smiled. I smiled back. He was okay.

Johnny glanced down the line to Ben. "Had a little relapse, huh?" he poked.

I saw Ben look at him, waiting for another jab.

Johnny just smiled.

"Welcome back," he said.

Von Doom, always one to ruin a perfectly happy moment, said, "This is going to be fun."

The others braced themselves and I watched as Von Doom raised his arms into the air. Suddenly, bolts of electricity crashed down towards him and hit. For a moment, I thought that was it. I thought he was dead. But Sue, Reed, and Ben watched him, unflinchingly. I realized that Von Doom conducts electricity.

Swiftly, Von Doom threw a hand out towards Johnny and a stream of pure electricity shot out. It hit Johnny in the chest and went straight through him. Johnny stood up unharmed; his unique molecular build had saved him.

Next, Von Doom shot a bolt at Ben, who had charged at him. This time Ben was sent flying backwards through the air, but his rocky build would protect him too.

The next bolt was for Sue, who threw up some sort of force field to block the electricity from hitting her. Out of all of us, she would be seriously hurt if she was struck.

"I can't hold it!" she screamed, struggling to keep her arms out.

Again, the scientist in me jumped into action.

Pure water insulates electricity.

"Hold on, Sue!" I yelled. Like I had done with Johnny, I transformed completely into water and ran towards the stream of electricity pushing against Sue's force field.

"Kara!" Johnny yelled. He didn't understand that I was safe. That boy should've paid more attention in science class.

I threw myself in front of Sue, the blot of electricity going straight through my abdomen. I didn't even flinch. There was no pain, just a tingling sensation.

I think Von Doom glared at me through his mask, but I didn't have enough time to look because Reed used his elastic limbs to throw a mailbox at him. The torrent of electricity stopped.

I looked over to Reed, who then did the weirdest thing I have ever seen. He stretched upwards, bent in half to touch his hands to his feet, and rolled forwards. He became a wheel of blue as he rolled towards Von Doom. When he got close enough he stretched again, this time flattening out like a blanket and threw himself over Von Doom, wrapping him up tightly.

"Johnny!" Reed yelled. "Supernova!"

"I thought we agreed that was bad!" Johnny yelled back, glancing at me.

"NOW!" Reed yelled.

Johnny 'flamed on' and began circling around Von Doom just as Ben yanked Reed away. Continuing to circle Von Doom, Johnny increased the temperature; I could feel myself starting to get a headache.

Reed looked over to Sue. "Sue! Think you can contain it?"

For a second time, Sue put up a force field, but this time focused it on the tower of flame in front of her. The shimmery blue force wrapped around the fire that contained Von Doom and Johnny. The tower built up and up.

However, Sue could only hold the force field for so long and it soon disappeared. I looked over at her to see blood dripping from her nose; she strained herself too much. Johnny fell out of the fire and hit the pavement, exhausted.

The flames slowly vanished, revealing Von Doom; nothing but a body of hot metal.

"Is that the best you can do?" he shouted to Reed.

Oh, Vicky should have paid more attention in science class too.

Reed grinned. "Time for your lesson! Chemistry 101: What happens when you rapidly cool hot metal?"

He nodded at me.

Pointing my palms towards Von Doom, I unleashed a full blast of water. Opposite me, Ben kicked open a fire hydrant and pointed the flow of water at the target.

I felt the water rushing towards my hands, quickly leaving my body. My legs began to feel weak and my arms felt heavy. There was a full-blown headache now.

After a few seconds, Ben stopped and so did I. I fell to my knees, looking towards the cloud of steam where Von Doom was standing. The cloud slowly began to dissipate and I saw a metal figure, _frozen_, inside a ring of smouldering asphalt.

With a sigh of relief, I fell down on the ground, breathing hard.

"Kara!"

Suddenly, all four of them were hovering over me.

"Hi guys," I said, out of breath.

They all smiled at me.

Johnny stepped forward. "Here. I got her," he started, moving to pick me up.

Reed held out an arm, stopping him. "Are you trying to kill her?" he said harshly.

I couldn't help it. I grinned. Reed was finally acting like a big brother.

"Reed, it's okay," I told him. He looked at me doubtfully. I reassured him, saying, "I'll be fine."

Reluctantly, Reed let Johnny lean down to me and scoop me up into his arms. I hung my arms loosely around Johnny's neck. Again, there was no sizzling.

The others looked at us curiously. Reed was wondering why the reaction had stopped. Sue and Ben were wondering when Johnny and I started being nice to each other.

We all stood up (minus me, of course) and the crowd of people began cheering. I couldn't help but feel a sense of pride as the people screamed and whistled and clapped.

Johnny, still carrying me, said, "Man, I love this job."

Ben looked at him. "Job, huh?"

Reed shrugged. "Well... we do have the suits."

I laughed. "So... the Fantastic Five?"

We all looked at each other and smiled.

Yeah, the Fantastic Five.

XXX

Johnny carried me the rest of the way home, despite Reed and Ben's arguments. I fell asleep somewhere along the way and woke up on the couch of the apartment to Johnny shaking me awake. He said something, but I wasn't paying any attention. He lifted me up and carried me to the bathroom. Sue was inside, running the bath. Johnny set me down on the toilet seat, and I began to doze off again. Sue started taking off my boots and started unzipping my suit. I tiredly heard her yell at Johnny to get out.

I felt much better after the bath; I soaked up enough water to get my energy back. I changed into pyjamas and left the bathroom, feeling like I could run a marathon. I walked to the living room and found Ben sitting on the couch in silence.

I walked over and sat next to him, quietly waiting for him to talk first.

"How're you feeling, Care Bear?"

I smiled. "I'm good, Ben," I replied. "How are _you_ feeling?"

Ben sighed. "I don't know. I feel... relieved. I'm relieved that I'm like this, I'm useful this way. I can protect you and Suzie and Reed and the hotshot this way."

"Ben, don't sacrifice anything just to make us happy," I told him. "If this isn't what you want..."

He shook his head. "No, I want this. I want this."

I nodded. I still wasn't sure Ben was comfortable with this, but at least he was getting used to it.

I hugged him. "Well, either way, you'll always be my _Benny Boo_," I told him.

He glared. "Don't you dare..."

"Oh, so you're allowed to call me 'Care Bear' but I can't call you by your nickname?"

"Those are the rules."

I rolled my eyes with a laugh. Then I asked, "Do you know where Reed is?"

Ben gave me a look.

"Right. Dumb question."

I said goodnight to Ben before making my way to the lab. When I entered, I found Reed standing in the middle. Both his arms were stretched in different directions, trying to clean up the mess Von Doom made in the lab, and his neck was stretched all the way over to a desk where Reed's head was pouring over some papers.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to this," I said out loud.

Reed heard me and craned his neck in my direction. His arms shot back to their normal length and so did his neck. He rushed over to me, grabbing my arms as if to hold me up.

"Kara, are you alright? Do you feel nauseous? Do you have a headache?"

"Reed, I'm fine," I said, putting my hands on his arms to reassure him.

He let go of my arms and shook his head, looking ashamed of himself.

"I'm so sorry, Kara," he said. "I've been a terrible brother."

"No, Reed. You've been busy. You're not..."

"Kara," he interrupted, looking at me seriously. "I've been a _terrible_ brother."

He paused, running a hand over his face. "When Mom and Dad died, I swore to myself that I would take care of you," he said to me, "but I've cared more about helping other people with science than I have about you. And I'm sorry."

I felt tears sting at my eyes. That was the first time he'd ever spoken about Mom and Dad as long as I could remember. I flung my arms around him and he did the same, holding me tightly; afraid to let go.

Stroking my hair comfortingly, he said, "When Von Doom had me, all I could think about was what would happen if something happened to you and I wasn't there to protect you. If I wasn't there to take care of you like I had promised."

He pulled away from me slightly to look at me. "It's going to be different now," he said. "I promise. I'm going to be different now."

All I could do was smile and hug him tighter.

XXX

Reed had declared that our quarantine was over and we were free to do whatever we wanted. I barely saw Johnny anymore; he was out every night and for most of the day. Ben went out often too with Alicia, a woman he met at a bar. I loved her; she was very sweet and I thought she was perfect for Ben. She was also blind and therefore didn't give a damn what Ben looked like, though I don't think she'd care even if she could see. Reed and I hung out a little more, just talking or going out for coffee. But whenever he was with me, his mind was somewhere else. Even though he tried to focus solely on me, I could always tell when he was thinking about Sue. Which was a lot.

A few days after the Von Doom incident, some city officials threw us a party in honour of us saving the city. I was extremely excited, because that meant I got to dress up and go out. The party took place on a large boat out on the river. There was a lot of people there, most whom I didn't know. I was introduced to a lot of people: police chiefs, politicians, fire chiefs... the list went on. Everyone seemed just as equally grateful that I had made their job easier for them.

Currently I was standing with Reed and Ben. Johnny was off somewhere with a following of women, and Sue and Alicia had gone to get us drinks.

Ben was in the middle of talking about his shoes. "Custom made," he told us, "Size thirty-six..."

Reed, however, had other things on his mind. "Ben, look. I've been punching the numbers into the machine and I think if I could rework the power supply..."

"Forget about it, egghead," Ben interrupted. "I'm good as is."

Sue and Alicia appeared next to us, each with a glass of champagne in hand. Sue handed me a glass while Alicia turned in Ben's direction.

"Better than 'good', baby," she commented with a laugh. Her hearing still amazed me. How had she heard our conversation from all the way across the crowded room?

Ben laughed with her and clinked his cup against her glass in a toast, shattering Alicia's flute of champagne.

"Ooh!" she exclaimed in surprise. "We just need to work on your 'touch'."

"Mmm, I like the sound of that," Ben replied.

I scrunched my face up. "Ben!" I said, sounding appalled.

The others just laughed.

Then Reed turned to Sue. "Can I talk to you for a second?" he asked.

She nodded and said, "Sure."

That's when I saw it, the little exchanged between Reed and Ben. A wink.

Reed followed Sue out to the deck and I turned to Ben. "What was that?" I asked, curiously.

"What was what?"

I frowned at him and rolled my eyes. "I'm going for a walk," I told them. "See you guys later."

I walked out to the deck for some fresh air. I glanced around for Reed and Sue, but couldn't see them anywhere. And I figured that Reed wouldn't be too pleased if I started spying on them.

I leaned against the railing and looked out at the dark water. The splashing of the waves was soothing. A slight breeze twirled my hair. It reminded me of flying with Johnny.

"I thought I would find you out here."

I looked over my shoulder and smiled. Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

"What can I say? I like the water," I told him.

Johnny chuckled. He walked over and leaned against the railing next to me.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

I rolled my eyes. "Why does everyone keep asking me that?"

"Well, I could go back to not caring, if you prefer that."

I pretended to glare at him. "I'm fine," I answered.

He gave me that annoying grin.

There was a bit of silence between us after that. But it wasn't the kind of awkward silence I was expecting it to be. It was comfortable.

"So, that 'no sizzling' thing," Johnny began, "that's weird, right?"

I nodded. "There must be something wrong with you," I told him.

"Oh! Something wrong with me?"

"Yep."

We both laughed a little.

Then I told him, "Reed will want to figure out why, whenever you decide to stick around for longer than ten minutes, that is."

"Hey, I've been enjoying my freedom," he defended. "No harm in that."

"No, I guess not."

Another bit of silence.

"So, I've been meaning to ask you something," Johnny said. "What happened that night at the river?"

I shrugged, trying not to make a big deal about it. "You were in the river. I saved you. We flew out of there. That's it," I told him.

"Mhmm," Johnny hummed. "That's it?"

"That's it."

A pause.

"Can I ask you something else?" Johnny said.

"Sure," I replied.

"What flavour is your lip balm?"

"Cherry. Why?"

Johnny grinned while licking his lips. "I thought I tasted _cherry_ when I woke up after _you _pulled me out of the water."

I stopped. He was getting the totally wrong idea.

"Johnny..."

"And those _were_ tears that I saw on your face!"

"It wasn't..."

"I always knew you were carrying a torch for me."

"I am not!"

"All the signs are coming together..."

"Signs? What signs? There are no signs!"

Suddenly, he whirled around and walked back inside: "Can I have everyone's attention?"

"Johnny!" I yelled, chasing after him.

Luckily for me, everyone inside was already focused on something else. I stopped beside Alicia and Johnny stopped next to Ben, as far away from me as possible. I glared at him before turning to see what everyone was looking at.

Apparently I looked up just in time too because Reed got up from one knee to kiss Sue...

Who was wearing a ring on her finger.

"Aw, she's kissing him," Ben said, commentating for Alicia.

Reed and Sue looked up, embarrassed at being watched. I smiled at both of them.

"Hey," Ben said, turning to Johnny. Alicia and I looked on. "No more wisecracks about the way I look."

A soft expression passed over Johnny's face. "Hey, call me Mr. Sensitivity," he said, giving Ben a smile.

Ben smiled back.

Then...

"Okay, wide load coming through! Everybody move! He's huge!"

Johnny took off through the crowd towards the deck, Ben stomping after him shouting, "Come here, Mr. Sensitive!"

I held Alicia's arm and guided her out to the deck after Ben. Johnny reached the end and flew off into the sky.

"Show off!" Ben yelled.

Reed and Sue came over to us, grinning. Ben put his arm around Alicia. And I stood with my family as Johnny decorated the sky with a blazing Fantastic Five symbol.


End file.
